A prominent physicist from the National Research University of Electronic Technology (MIET), Alexander Berezin, has suggested that the “first in, last out” principle can resolve the so-called Ferma paradox. Over the last century, scientists have been bothered with a discrepancy: we haven’t observed a technologically advanced extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) in the universe, although under commonplace assumptions this absence is highly unlikely.
Berezin has suggested a solution, trivial but hard to accept, in his own words. According to his “first in, last out” hypothesis, the first life, which rises to interstellar travel, necessarily eradicates all competition to fuel its own expansion. And the fact that we haven’t still met any aliens could be evidence they haven’t yet achieved our technological level.
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The basis for his assumption involves key characteristics of life, growth and reproduction. According to the scholar, “they provide an incentive for life to spread out of its original habitat, and, inevitably, out into space” – and this drive is strong.
When independently arising beings meet during their cosmic expansion phase, the most developed one is expected to wipe out less intelligent life forms. Berezin points out that there’s nothing personal or ill-willed about such a scenario.
“Most likely, they simply won’t notice, the same way a construction crew demolishes an anthill to build real estate because they lack incentive to protect it,” he states.
The scientist gives an example that could be a scary sci-fi plot. According to him, it only takes one bad actor to ruin the equilibrium.
“One rogue AI can potentially populate the entire supercluster with copies of itself, turning every solar system into a supercomputer, and there is no use asking why it would do that. All that matters is that it can,” his paper reads.
According to Berezin, people are “first to arrive at the stage,” considering that “our planet and star are still relatively intact, and we are already contemplating the first interstellar probes.” And, taking his theory into account, we will be the last to leave.
The question of space travel has long bothered the most brilliant human minds, even now as the first preparations are being made for human beings to colonize other planets. For example, one of the most eager advocates of colonizing Mars is the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk. In March he had announced that SpaceX's interplanetary spaceship could have its first test flight in the first half of 2019. He claims that his ultimate goal is to colonize Mars, securing a getaway for the human race in the event of a looming apocalyptic scenario. According to him, there is "some probability" of a new Dark Ages, "particularly if there is a third world war." And his project is said to aim at keeping “enough of a seed of human civilization somewhere else to bring civilization back.”
