Is anybody out there? Why the internet is falling silent

Fermi's Paradox applies to online life with trolls pushing many of us to stay below the radar to avoid detection

- RAHUL MATTHAN

Sometimes, hoping for civil engagement on the internet is like shouting into space. Every attempt at communication draws responses that feel alien—like unfamiliar aggressors attacking us in an unknown language.

One day in 1950, Enrico Fermi went out for lunch with his colleagues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. No one recalls exactly how it happened, but the conversation turned to then-recent reports about unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. All of a sudden, Fermi asked, "Where is everybody?" This simple question, a statistical reflection on the likely existence of alien civilizations, is a profound one and has since come to be called 'Fermi's Paradox.'

There are an estimated 100–400 billion stars in the Milky Way and over 100 billion such galaxies in the observable universe. Statistically, at least one (if not millions) of galaxies should contain within them planets capable of supporting life. Why, then, is it that we have yet to see signs of extra-terrestrial life? If Earth is not the only habitable planet on which life could have evolved, where—as Fermi so succinctly asked—is everyone else?

Many attempted to answer this question. Among the more interesting explanations is the Dark Forest theory, proposed by Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu in his 'Three-Body Problem' trilogy. To Liu, the universe is like a dark forest in which advanced civilizations like ours lurk—armed, tense and silent—wary of revealing their position for fear of attracting attention.