Zoo hypothesis

The zoo hypothesis is one of a number of suggestions that have been advanced in response to the Fermi Paradox, regarding the apparent absence of evidence in support of the existence of advanced extraterrestrial life. According to this hypothesis, aliens would generally avoid making their presence known to humanity, or avoid exerting an influence on our development, somewhat akin to zookeepers observing animals in a zoo.

Adherents of the hypothesis consider that our planet and our species may be under close scrutiny without our awareness, such as by surreptitious monitoring by automated equipment located on Earth or elsewhere in the solar system which relays information back to the observers. It is also suggested that overt contact will eventually be made with humanity once we reach a certain level of development.

Appearance in fiction

The zoo hypothesis is a relatively popular subject matter in science fiction. Some examples are given below.

In Star Trek, the Federation has a strict Prime Directive policy of non-intervention with less technologically advanced cultures which the Federation encounters. Also, the Vulcan race limited their encounters to observation until humans made their first warp flight.

In Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, beings disguised as mice are the architects of a powerful computer disguised as the Earth whose purpose is to provide the question which results in The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. In this story the zoo hypothesis is expressed by way of the Earth itself functioning as an observational platform.

In the movie The Matrix, most of humanity live their lives unaware that in truth everything they perceive is a totally manufactured reality, and their physical bodies and minds have always been trapped within a vast technological creation run by artificial intelligences. In this story the zoo hypothesis is expressed by way of the fundamental reality we perceive being no more than a creation of external observers.

In Childhood's End, a novel by Arthur C. Clarke published in 1953, the alien cultures had been observing and registering the Earth's evolution and human History for thousands perhaps millions) of years. At the begining of the book, when the mankind is about to achieve spaceflight, the aliens reveal their existence and quickly end the arms race, the colonialism, the racial segregation and the Cold War.

Arthur C. Clarke's The Sentinel and 2001: A Space Odyssey deal with the concept of a "cosmic burglar alarm", a beacon which is activated when the human race discovers it on the moon. This is a slight variation on the zoo hypothesis, in that an alien race has apparently visited us in the distant past, but is not interested in active observation until a predetermined technological level is reached.

In Robert J. Sawyer's SF novel Calculating God, Hollus, a scientist from an advanced alien civilization, denies that her government is operating under the prime directive.

References

Ball, J. A. "The Zoo Hypothesis", Icarus, 19, 347 (1973).

Appearance in fiction

References

See also