Aliens found humans too boring, so they quit contacting us, claims scientist

Could aliens be ignoring us simply because they are bored? That’s what a NASA scientist believes. The idea might sound strange, but it offers a simple answer to one of science’s biggest mysteries.

Are aliens tired of trying to contact us?
Dr Robin Corbet, a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, working with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, suggests that extraterrestrial civilisations may have lost interest in communicating with humans. His recent paper, A Less Terrifying Universe? Mundanity as an Explanation for the Fermi Paradox investigates this strange theory.

Dr Corbet contends that extraterrestrial beings may not possess super-advanced technology in the ways commonly envisioned. Instead, their progress could be only slightly ahead of ours. “It’s like having an iPhone 42 instead of an iPhone 17,” he told The Guardian. The paper, which is yet to be peer reviewed, outlines a concept called “radical mundanity”, suggesting that alien civilisations may exist but are not capable of large-scale cosmic projects or simply lack the desire to pursue them.

What does this mean for the Fermi Paradox?
The Fermi Paradox asks the question of why, in light of the infinite universe, mankind has not yet been able to pick up signs of intelligent life. Dr Corbet's hypothesis put forward is that perhaps the solution is boredom or lack of motivation. Sending powerful signals or probes across galaxies would take immense energy and possibly millions of years to get a response. The long wait, he suggests, might have discouraged them.