Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, science fiction has populated our galaxy with countless extraterrestrial civilizations and interplanetary conflicts. In the real world, however, we have yet to encounter even the most basic form of microscopic alien life, much less a technologically advanced and conveniently human shaped one. So why is this? One possibility is that habitable planets are rare, and that
intelligent life itself is an anomaly. In other words, we might truly be alone. It's also conceivable that other technically advanced civilizations are simply too far away for either party to know of the other. But what if alien life is widespread through the galactic neighborhood and we've been intentionally excluded from the block party? Behold the zoo hypothesis. The essential idea behind the Zoo high apothesis has been the
subject of scientific and science fictional cosmology for decades. For example, see fiction from authors like Olaf Stapleton in the nineteen thirties and Arthur C. Clark in the nineteen fifties. But M I T. Radio astronomer John Ball is often credited with laying it out in ninety three. In essence, the zoo hypothesis serves as a possible solution to the Fermi paradox,
named for scientist Enrico Fermi. The Fermi paradox refers to the contradiction between the high likelihood of systems spanning intelligent life according to some interpretations of the Drake equation, which is used to estimate the potential number of communicating civilizations in our galaxy, and the lack of evidence for such intelligent life. The aliens might be there, this hypothesis suggests, and they might be intentionally hiding from us, as the
name implies. One way to imagine such a scenario is that Earth could have been set aside as a sort of zoo or nature reserve. Perhaps the aliens just prefer to observe life in a closed system, or they could have ethical reasons for not interfering in our technological and cultural progress, akin to the prime directive from Star Trek. Potentially, more sinister interpretation can be found in balls laboratory hypothesis. The aliens don't talk to us because we're part of
an experiment they're conducting. As astrophysicists William L. Newman and Carl Sagan explained in their night paper Galactic Civilizations, Population Dynamics, and Interstellar Diffusion, it's ultimately impossible to predict the aims and beliefs of a hypothetical advanced civilization. However, they stressed that such ideas are worthwhile in that they help us imagine quote less apparent social impediments to extensive interstellar colonization.
In other words, if we're putting all ideas on the table concerning the possibility of advanced alien life, then the Zoo hypothesis has a place on the cosmological lazy Susan But we have to be careful about avoiding anthropost centrism, the tendency to assume that human beings are at the center of cosmic concerns. For the article this episode is based on how Stuff Work. Spoke with particle physicist Daniel Whiteson.
He said, I think that's pretty unlikely. I don't like that the Zoo hypothesis puts us at the center of things, and it also seems implausible because it requires a vast galactic conspiracy. When was the last time anybody worked together to keep a secret? The best argument against having secret aliens visiting the Earth is just that governments are not capable of maintaining secrecy like that, especially over decades. You might be tempted to argue that, well, we're talking about
alien governments here, not human governments. But our contemplation of possible alien life is largely based on the only existing model we have us. If we can't maintain vast conspiracies, then what chance to aliens have. All Whiteson said, I think it's very unlikely that aliens are somehow capable of that, though perhaps they are. I like that the Zoo hypothesis tries to answer this question in a whimsical, creative way. It's fun for telling a story, but it puts a
lot of human motivations in the minds of these unknown aliens. However, as Newman and Sagan pointed out, the idea isn't entirely untestable. If we could one day detect alien communications, the Zoo hypothesis would be falsifiable, and the nonprofit group Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence or MEDI, advocates the creation and transmission of interstellar messages that could, in theory, let any cosmic zookeepers out there know that we would like to see beyond our enclosure.
Today's episode is b based on the article the zoo Hypothesis Are aliens watching us like animals in a zoo? On how stuff Works dot com written by Robert Lamb. For more from Robert, tune into his podcast to Stuff to Blow your Mind and to hear more from Daniel whiteson tune into his podcast Daniel and Orgae Explain the Universe. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot com, and it's produced by
Tyler Clang and Ramsey Yeah. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows