The reason why aliens have not contacted us yet

That’s a lot of places where an intergalactic party could be hiding!

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins invites us to reflect: would it be arrogant to think we are alone? Without a doubt! But, how can we search for those hypothetical cosmic neighbors?

The search for life

Astronomers have decided to simplify the search by focusing on what they call the "habitable zone." This is the golden place, where the distance of a planet from its star allows for the existence of liquid water.

NASA estimates that at least 300 million of these planets could be suitable for life. Imagine the number of parties we could have!

But here comes the trick: being in the habitable zone does not guarantee that there is water. So far, we know of more than 5,500 exoplanets, but their atmospheres remain a mystery. For example, Venus has a dense and toxic atmosphere, while Mars seems to have lost most of its atmosphere. Who would want to live in such a place? No one!

Moreover, the solar system is not the most common. Red dwarf stars, much smaller and dimmer than our Sun, are the most abundant.

What if life were something as simple as bacteria that absorb infrared light? We could be surrounded by tiny purple beings that we don't even know about. Now that would be an unexpected twist!

What if life doesn't need water?

Let's talk about forms of life that challenge our expectations. There could be beings that don't need water. Think of Titan, a moon of Saturn with lakes and seas of methane.

Under the water (well, the methane) there could be little extraterrestrials enjoying their own version of life!

Now, let's change the subject. Life is one thing, but what about intelligence? This is where the SETI Program comes in, which has been searching for signals from advanced civilizations for decades. But, where are they? The famous Fermi paradox makes us wonder: if there are so many planets, why haven't we received clear signals of life?

Can you imagine they are sleeping? Or worse, that they have seen us and decided to "mute" our transmission. How rude!

The distance and technology

It is important to remember that if these civilizations are observing our planet from, let's say, the Andromeda galaxy, they are seeing what was happening here 2.5 million years ago. Hello, Pleistocene! And if we detect radio signals from a distant civilization, they are probably echoes of events from eons ago. It's like talking to a ghost!

And let's not forget our technological limitation. We move through the solar system using chemical or electric propulsion. The Voyager 1 probe is the furthest human-made object, about 24 billion kilometers from Earth. And the closest star? Proxima Centauri, at 40 trillion kilometers. That's a journey that not even the best navigation app could calculate!

Final Reflections

So, are we alone? Maybe not. But the search is a monumental challenge. We might be just one discovery away from changing our understanding of the universe. So, as we continue to look up at the sky, let's keep an open mind and a sense of humor! Who knows? Maybe one day we'll receive a message that says: "Hello, Earth! Do you have wifi?!"

What do you think? Do you believe there is life out there? Share your thoughts in the comments!