Why have we never been able to make contact with life-forms on other planets?. The aforesaid is a question that countless scientists have asked themselves for decades. The most fitting answer to that conundrum is without a doubt the "The Great Filter Hypothesis". In the following post, will I address my thoughts on this hypothesis. Not to mention elucidate on the relevant points.

 

From a wider spectrum perspective, it has indeed not been that long since the first two men landed on the moon.  July 20th, 1969 to be precise. Since then, we have only been able to send rovers, and orbiters to outer space. Be that as it may, our next "big challenge" is for NASA to prepare a human exploration program to Mars. What is more, every new discovery we make brings us one step closer to accomplishing that endeavor. Back to the main argument nonetheless. Experts suggest that the reason why we have failed thus far to contact extraterrestrial civilizations may be due to them having perished. It does seem hard to believe notwithstanding, that in a universe of 300 billion stars, there are no other life-forms alive other than us.

 

Professor Peter Ward, at the University of Washington concurs with aforementioned statement. He says that since there are hundreds of billions of galaxies similar to ours. Thus, billions of planets like Earths as well. There must be life somewhere else. The Great Filter Hypothesis claims that something gives rise to the destruction of civilizations, before they manage to develop intergalactic communication and travel. Professor Ward also states that a couple of reasons why societies cease to exist could be "climate change" and "overpopulation". According to him when a species overpopulates, it begins to poison its home. Irrespective of what the reason is however, by no means is Professor Ward discouraging other scientists from keeping up with their research.

 

Professor Carl Brusse, from the Australian National university, says as follows: "We have only searched a tiny corner of the galaxy, and it is enough for us to start questioning whether our initial assumptions were correct and maybe downgrade the possibility of life". He might as well be right. Being open to the likelihood of human kind being able to finally connect with the unknown is all we civilians can do for now. For the time being, we can expand our scientific knowledge slightly more, and hope for the best.  

Sources:

- https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html
- http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-21/great-filter-theory-may-explain-why-well-never-contact-aliens/8731806
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aspMV6ERqpo