Could intelligent life be more ordinary than we imagine?
For centuries, scientists and philosophers have wrestled with the Fermi paradox: with hundreds of billions of worlds in the galaxy, why hasn’t Earth been contacted or visited by extraterrestrial civilizations? A provocative new angle, dubbed radical mundanity, suggests the answer may lie not in cosmic cataclysms or wildly advanced physics, but in civilizations that are only modestly more technologically capable than our own.
The radical mundanity hypothesis
At its core, radical mundanity posits that alien civilizations—if they exist—could be only slightly ahead of humanity in technological prowess. Think of a future smartphone upgrade rather than a revolution in physics. Dr. Robin Corbet, a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a contributor to the idea, compares it to owning an iPhone 42 instead of an iPhone 17. The implication is stark: if civilizations plateau around a familiar level of technology, their presence may be far less conspicuous than classic SETI expectations would predict.
Why the idea is gaining attention
The Fermi paradox has spawned a gallery of exotic explanations: civilizations that self-destruct, life that never leaves its cradle, or cosmic zoo theories that demand Earth’s isolation. Radical mundanity challenges these extremes by offering a more conservative trajectory for intelligent life. If extraterrestrials do not wield faster-than-light travel or energy-mapping megastructures, they may fail to generate detectable technosignatures such as piercing laser beacons, vast solar constructs, or interstellar probes shipped across the galaxy.
Implications for SETI and search strategies
The hypothesis suggests SETI’s search criteria might need refinement. If civilizations are not dramatically more capable than ours, their most conspicuous artifacts could be scarce or invisible with current detectors. Card-carrying technosignatures might appear only fleetingly, or not at all, as intelligent beings continue to explore their cosmic neighborhoods and then shift to quieter, background modes of life. The radical mundanity view does not deny the possibility of contact; it simply argues that contact, if it happens, would be subtler and less dramatic than often imagined.
Expert opinions and healthy skepticism
Not all scientists are convinced. Prof Michael Garrett of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics praised the theory for its fresh perspective but warned against overgeneralizing. “It projects a very human-like apathy on to the rest of the cosmos,” he noted, suggesting that any true plateau could exist at a level far above our current capabilities. Another scholar, anticipating a different twist on the paradox, supports the idea that post-biological civilizations might evolve systems beyond our perception, slipping away from detectability as they advance.
Where the debate goes from here
The radical mundanity hypothesis, described in a paper slated for Acta Astronautica, invites further scrutiny and debate. It does not claim Earth is unique or alone, but rather that the galaxy may host a modest number of civilizations with technology not wildly surpassing our own. This stance aligns with a perhaps less terrifying, more mundane universe—one where contact could be possible but disappointingly understated.
As scientists continue to weigh this idea, one thing remains clear: the universe still has surprises. Whether extraterrestrials are lurking in plain sight, silent and bored, or simply beyond our current ability to recognize, the search for intelligent life in the cosmos endures.
