Hello, I was doing some research about The Great Filter theory because it interests me. But there is something I can’t find answer to. So I hope you will help me clear my head with this. What would mean if some inteligent form of life visited us? Like bilion or more years old civilization from the other end of the galaxy. Would that mean that filter is in front of us or behind us? I can’t get my head around it..
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Let’s start by walking back the question a bit. Why does the Great Filter hypothesis even exist? Well, it’s proposed as a possible solution to the Fermi paradox. Now, if we are visited by Aliens, then Fermi paradox has been answered. If Fermi paradox has been answered, then is the Great Filter hypothesis still relevant? So that’s the first answer.
Next, we could modify Fermi paradox just a little bit. Instead of asking why we have seen no evidence of ET, to asking why we have seen only one? And why now?
Here, we could have some fun and imagine a few scenarios, starting with the simplest.
The simplest scenario is if the Aliens are hostile, and we are annihilated. I know, it’s a bummer, but it does tell us something about the nature of the filter in the Great Filter hypothesis, that there is this advanced civilization going around the universe destroying nascent civilizations on first contact.
Next, in a more hopeful scenario, the aliens are friendly and willing to exchange information with us. Now, we can simply ask them about whether there is a great filter, whether we’ve past it, etc. Good deal!
The aliens may have a Star Trek style prime directive that prevents them from sharing any information with us. In that case, we are no further along on solving the modified Fermi paradox or learning about the Great Filter, but I think knowing that We Are Not Alone must change our human species somehow, hopefully for the better.
Last scenario that I’ll mention would be: what if we are also the only other intelligent life that this alien civilization has ever met? Well, in this case, we can use the information that we’ve gathered to further refine our hypothesis, testing them; then gather more info, refine some more, and test again… in other word, continue on our quest to understand the universe around us, just like we’ve been doing all along.
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