One main theory about why we haven't come into contact with aliens is
due to a sort of capping limit--all life dies before we can even be
able to reach one another. It's called the Fermi theory
I've read about this too, and looking to mankind it might seem pretty
true (we're about starting space exploration at the very same time
climate change treatens our planet, and even if it feels 'old' -i.e.
XX century-, there's always the possibility of nuclear destruction).
Still, even with this 'capping', statistically speaking, there should
be a few civilizations out there who already passed it. Could we
detect them? Probably not, space is huge.
Another theory I recently found on the internet is the "zoo theory."
It reminds me a lot of startrek, so it's very possible it could be
true in some way (never understimate the predictions of startrek!)
It's basically proposing that there are aliens aware of us (or like a
galactic council of aliens), and have decided not to contact us.
The Prime Directive!
I recently read a short book featuring it, it's called
Way Station , by Clifford D. Simak. In the novel, some aliens of the galaxy
have agreed to unite under some kind of federation and have a way to
travel across planets similar to teleportation. However, in order to
continue their expansion trough the Orion spiral, they needed a "base"
on Earth (although they considered our planet as not ready for joining
the federation); so they built one in secret.
Serac also makes a good point; we don't know if there's alien life out
there that is comparable to us. Though the conditions for life would
most likely lead to life that doesn't look not completely
unlike the life we've seen on earth (animals like in the deep sea also
taken into account), the galaxy is so vast that no one could really
know.
I don't know... Sure, alien life is probably going to look WAY strange
and we're never going to imagine it beforehand, but I don't think this
implies that we couldn't understand it under the right circumstances.
Think about Japanese culture during the blockade. Europeans knew
nothing of them (especially about their beliefs), but when they
finally opened, the two cultures were able to communicate and
understand themselves, even more, they could find common ground and
similar patterns (japanese feudalism).
Would I be overestimating our species if I think humans could
understand aliens if we had the chance? We passed from believing Earth
was a flat disk on space to understanding a fair amount of the
universe in
just a few centuries.
Though this has more of a conspiracy rep to it, it IS possible aliens
have already been here and influenced our race and cultures. Who's to
say the basis of some religions don't come from extra-terrestrial
visitations, or the pyramids weren't really built by martians? Usually
conspiracies are derived from some truth...and you know, the US
government has never really told us what they did or funded in
Roswell, so there's that as well.
plays The X-Files theme
I admit it, I've played with this idea for years (although I've been
starting to refute it). Why would aliens limite themselves? If they
actually show interest in our species, I doubt they'd stop there. And
why all the secretism? Is normal in humans, but not necessarily in
them.
I stick to my original premise. Even if we can't imagine the complex processes behind evolution in another planet, if we get to actually manage to study a sample, we could learn about it and even think of it as normal.
@ Polaris
I get what you're saying, but I think that depends on whether or not
you're using alien as a noun or as an adjective. If something is
alien, then it's incomprehensible, but if something is AN alien, it
doesn't necessarily mean it WILL be incomprehensible. The creatures
that inhabit the marina trenches and the abyss are pretty alien to me,
but (as far as we know) they aren't aliens and originate from earth.
All right, that's weird and so interesting at the very same time.
