What is the great filter hypothesis? Science answers!

Humanity’s search for intelligent life outside of us is a search that has continued especially in recent years. However, some scientists believe that we are completely alone; for example, the Fermi Paradox asks why we haven’t found extraterrestrial life yet if the universe is so old and big. If the universe is full of aliens, where are they all?

There are researchers who bet that the answer lies in the Dark Forest, a hypothesis that suggests that aliens are like predators and that the universe is a dark forest. So the best thing to do to avoid being attacked in the forest is to stay quiet and make sure no one discovers your location.

However, the most skeptical scientists do not believe that a type of civilization intelligent enough to create technologies such as flying saucers could exist. In fact, these scientists do not even believe that humanity could reach such an advanced technological level. This is because we can go through something called the “Great Filter” which will make our continued improvement impossible.

The Great Filter hypothesis suggests that perhaps no intelligent society can survive many years into the future. The idea is that exponential advances in technology could result in the destruction of civilizations such as humanity. This could occur in different scenarios, such as climate change or the advancement of Artificial Intelligence.

“As our society moves exponentially toward space exploration, we assume that an existential catastrophe may lurk, Acting as the Great Filter: a phenomenon that destroys civilizations before they even meet“We propose several possible scenarios, including anthropogenic and natural risks that could be prevented through reforms in individual, institutional and internal behavior,” a study on the subject explains.

What is the Great Filter Hypothesis?

In 1996, economist and philosopher Robin Hanson published the article “The Great Filter – Are We Almost Done?” in which he theorized a possible solution to the Fermi Paradox. In this case, resolving the paradox is easier than it seems.

Italian physicist Enrico Fermi questioned where all the extraterrestrial life was, after all, if the universe had been created billions of years ago, new intelligent life would have emerged long ago. The answer, according to Hanson, is simple: They destroyed themselves before they could reach a technological level that would allow interstellar travel.

In a few words, The Great Filter can be explained as a filter that prevents the development of intelligent civilizations in the universe. Hanson suggests that at some point all intelligent societies will perish for a variety of reasons. For example, a natural cause could destroy humanity, but self-destruction is more likely due to wars or other human-induced causes.

The idea is that there will come a critical moment when society will become unstable and something as yet unknown will prevent us from continuing our history. The hypothesis states that this will happen before any society becomes technologically advanced enough to recognize other intelligent life. Allegedly this is why we don’t observe aliens.

Types of disasters that can cause the Great Filter:

• Nuclear war;
• Climate change;
• Diseases and pandemics;
• Comet impact;
• Artificial intelligence.

The theory is that the Great Filter is most likely caused by humans, because there have been hundreds of natural disasters that could have destroyed life, but they did not. For example, we have had many mass extinctions since the planet was created, which is why we do not see any dinosaurs around us. There are also ice age events. which has significantly reduced the number of people in the world.

Could AI be the perfect filter?

An article published in the scientific journal Acta Astronautica examines the possibility that the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) could create an Artificial Super Intelligence (AI) and destroy humanity.. With the emergence of SIAs, a positive scenario for the Great Filter may emerge.

In that case, our civilization would be destroyed before there was any possibility of finding other beings in the universe; In fact, the theory suggests that this occurs in all intelligent societies – if they actually exist..

“The speed of AI decision-making processes could escalate conflicts in ways that go far beyond original intentions. At this stage of AI development, it is possible that widespread integration of AI into autonomous weapons systems and decision-making processes could enable real-time defense decisions, leading to a catastrophic event such as global thermonuclear war, accelerating the collapse of artificial and biological engineering civilizations,” the paper explains.

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