Why Haven't Aliens Made Contact With Humans So Far?

It seems we are being visited by extraterrestrial aliens quite often. According to some, they are being picked up and being used as, well, 'guinea pigs.' I use the term "extraterrestrial aliens" because it seems to me that we use the word "aliens" to mean a lot of things these days. Anyway, back to the point, so where are these so-called ETs? If we are indeed being visited, why haven't we found any concrete evidence of such visitations thus far? To my skeptical brain, the conventional image of the "extraterrestrial alien" doesn't quite make sense. They look so much like us. What is the possibility of a species that evolved perhaps light years away, ending up looking so much like us? Does intelligent life have to look humanoid?

Back to the point though, why haven't we met ET? After all, we've been looking for them for some time now - I mean actively. We've been sending out messages via our spacecrafts about our location, looking for any signs of them through radio telescopes and what have you and still no success.

The physicist, Enrico Fermi, once asked why we haven’t seen any sign of advanced extraterrestrial life – if indeed the probability of such life existing in our Milky Way (and one can argue in the wider Universe) is so high according to calculations. The probabilities arrived at by Frank Drake would have us believe that there should exist countless numbers of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations in the Universe and at least some in the Milky Way itself. Yet, we have not known of any no matter how hard we’ve looked for them! This apparent contradiction is known as the Fermi paradox. The lack of evidence or lack of contact with extraterrestrials is therefore an important question to reflect upon. There have been many reasons put forth for this lack of contact with any extraterrestrial advanced civilization. Let us review some of them.

Life Doesn't Last All That Long:

One possible explanation could be that intelligent life tends to limit itself or destroy itself rather too quickly to be discovered and made contact with. If we look at ourselves as an example, haven’t we faced the threat of extermination during the Cold War through a possible nuclear holocaust? Even today, some may argue that we may possibly destroy our planet and with it, our future survival as a species, through our actions. It would be quite likely then that most intelligent civilizations that have arisen around the Universe has not lasted long enough to advance to being a spacefaring species, having self-destructed.

We Just Don't Matter To Them:

Another possible explanation is that any extraterrestrial aliens out there just aren’t interested in as backward a species as we are. After all, how much have we achieved technologically? Most of our technological advances have come in the last 100 years or so, and one may argue that it will be many hundreds of years later that we may achieve the kind of technological advances that may enable us to become a spacefaring species and hence be possibly worthy of joining the "United Nations of the Universe." Perhaps, they may have something like that – a "United Planets of the Universe" possibly - to which admission is granted to only those who’ve achieved spacefaring technology. Maybe there is a rule forbidding any advanced civilizations from making contact with “primitive” civilizations like ours - for fear of influencing our way of life at present or our evolution as a species, either biologically or technologically. It could very well be the case why we haven’t made contact with any extraterrestrial aliens.

The Fear Factor:

Perhaps, any intelligent aliens out there don’t wish to contact us on purpose. They may have the same fear that some of us have on Earth - which is that it might be too dangerous to make contact with other alien civilizations. They may perhaps fear the possibility of contamination through any biological or technological infections – like viruses, etc. They may feel that there is nothing for them to gain through contacting us and rather, much to lose by doing so.

We Just Aren't Using the Right Means To Contact Them:

One can also argue that there may be intelligent ETs out there, but we just don’t know how to contact them. For example, we are primarily using radio signals as a means of trying to communicate and make contact with ET, but what are the chances that they use radio signals as a means of communication? Should all civilizations have developed radio technology as a means of communication? Even if they have, they aren’t likely to have used radio technology for any extended period of time, having outgrown it, and switched to more advanced communication means. Hence the detectable window would be quite small and we’ve only just started looking for radio signals relatively recently, so what are the chances? Quite slim, I’d say!! They may be using communications technology far advanced and beyond our comprehension – perhaps using secure communication channels in space! We can’t yet say we understand all the principles of physics, or that we have developed all technology there is or could be, so we can’t even begin to assume that a lack of radio signal equates to a lack of advanced intelligent life out there.

They've Evolved Far Too Much To Be Available For Contact:

Another interesting explanation could be that any intelligent ETs out there have advanced to a much higher form, devoid of any physical existence, perhaps in a virtual environment. If that were to be the case, then I don’t think they’d think much of what happens in the physical material Universe. In such a situation - of what significance would we be to them? I don’t think much.

They Are Nothing Like Us - Far Too Alien - To Think Like We Do:

It could also be that any intelligent ET out there is so vastly different from us that they just can’t communicate with us. As humans, we assume that ET would look somewhat like us, as in having a humanoid appearance, and that they would share things fundamental to us like music, mathematics, our communications technology. However, could it not be possible that ET may have a whole different set of their own fundamentals by which they live? Can we assume to know everything there is – all the laws of physics there might be? I’d think not. For us humans, curiosity is a fundamental trait. We are inherently a curious species. Is it necessary that other advanced alien civilizations should share that trait? Perhaps, most other advanced alien civilizations aren’t curious – they may not be actively seeking out other worlds like us. Maybe that’s why we haven’t met any ETs thus far.

But Haven't We Been Visited:

Do I hear some of you say, “Oh, but we have been visited by ET and we’ve already made contact.” Well, that’s speculation of course. There is no hard evidence of that, but there may be truth to the fact that some Governments may know of visitations by ETs and may possibly have captured alien spacecraft or aliens themselves, but choose not to reveal it in the name of “national security.” There is also the real possibility that, if not now, that we have been visited by ET in the past and many of our myths and legends that talk of supernatural beings or great individuals, guiding us as leaders, religious or otherwise, may well have been visiting aliens that lived amongst us for a while and perhaps helped shape some of our philosophies or technological advances.

They've Been Here All Along & We Haven't Noticed:

Lastly, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that intelligent ETs are already amongst us, but that they haven’t revealed themselves yet. Perhaps, they have the ability to cloak themselves or transform themselves to appear as humans. Why might they be doing this? Your guess would be as good as mine, if at all that were to be a fact. I can only speculate that they may want to observe the Earth from within than from outside, for whatever reasons they may have! Perhaps, for research on us as a species and our world - either with good intentions or bad.

Personally, I find this theory far-fetched. It is much more likely that we haven't been visited by aliens for the other reasons mentioned above. Either aliens exist and are not interested in us, as much as we seem to be in them, or we just don't know how to look for them. I don't see what potential benefits they'd have in wanting to reveal themselves to us on their own? They certainly aren't going to gain much in terms of technology, knowledge, being a far more advanced species. The only thing they may find useful are our resources and that won't be good news for us. As Stephen Hawking, the famous British physicist, says, communicating with aliens may be a risky proposition. Perhaps, we shouldn't be looking so hard for them.