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On April 8th, 2024, there is a solar eclipse passing over the United States. This is an event in which the moon passes in front of the sun, blocking it out such that the sun is only a thin ring. The next one visible in North America will not be until 2044, 20 years from now! This alone makes an event like this miracle-like, and I hope everyone who can see it will. However, what is even more miraculous is the existence of solar eclipses at all. It might seem like the natural result of the moon passing over the sun, but if either of them were any smaller, larger, closer, or further away, the moon could end up as only a dot on the sun, or completely black it out, but we live on a planet where it forms a ring. The sun’s diameter divided by the moon’s diameter is around 400, and the sun’s distance from Earth divided by the moon’s distance is slightly under that, around 389. This results in the perfect scenario for eclipses in which we exist.
This cosmic perfection is a reminder of the many coincidences that have led up to the existence of humanity, and the many coincidences necessary for any life to form anywhere. Of course, without those coincidences, we would not be here to question them. The magnitude of these coincidences could explain the complete lack of aliens we have encountered in our ventures to the stars. The odds of the existence of a space-communicating civilization are what was calculated in the Drake Equation. This equation took in the variables of star formation, the number of planetary systems around those stars, the number of planets that could have life, the odds that they will, the odds that they become intelligent, the odds that they shoot some sign of their existence into space, and the time that they would be shooting those signals. They then multiply them together and find the number of intelligent civilizations out there. They don’t actually have all of those variables, but estimates have ranged from one to tens of millions.
This then begs a question — why have we seen no aliens? The Drake equation indicates the existence of at least some aliens in our galaxy, but there are more galaxies, and more chances for aliens to appear and yet, there are none. This question has been asked before, known as the Fermi paradox. Given the billions of years of the universe’s existence, and the great number of galaxies, and thus stars, and thus planets, it seems unbelievably probable that someone would have had the time to develop technology to conquer the galaxy, or at the very least contact us and yet, we seem completely alone.
One explanation is the existence of a filter on the development of life. Somewhere along the chain of evolution, there exists a stage which life simply cannot pass. For example, some technology needed for space travel destroys all who use it, some consequence of intelligent life leads to climate crises like global warming, or some greater power takes any civilization down which reaches a certain level of threat. This last point deserves its own possible explanation, that being of the zoo hypothesis. Say some advanced life has already gained the power to conquer the galaxy but is simply keeping us in an isolated system, allowing us to grow and develop while they watch behind some barrier we cannot understand. Perhaps they have some reason for avoiding us, they wish for us to evolve to some point, or simply for entertainment. Similarly, some universe-wielding beings could have simply created a universe with nothing but us, for similar purposes as above.
It’s also possible that the Drake equation is an extreme overestimation and not enough factors were taken into account. In that case, we return to the small compounded miracles which allow for our existence. We live on a planet with all the right compounds to form life, the necessary water and sunlight, our position relative to the rest of our solar system, our moon, our magnetic field, and surely many more variables we may not even know about.
The list of these possibilities can run on and on and there are no proofs for any of them. The “what if” chain could continue forever but in the end, the improbable lack of aliens won’t affect most of your daily lives, and it’s difficult to even shift your perspective that far from Earth and your lives on it. Yet, such a great unknown will always bring with it a persistent curiosity. To think, imagine, and theorize of a place where you cannot yet go, can be freeing, and our human tendency towards curiosity is probably another one of those small miracle factors that has led to our advancement.
https://www.seti.org/drake-equation-index
https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/geometry/
https://www.seti.org/fermi-paradox-0