Lucy Devine
When you think about how tiny planet Earth is, in relation to the entire universe, it's kind of odd that intelligent life has never been discovered.
Surely, it's not just us... right?
The thought of other planets and other species is pretty mind-boggling. Despite the probability of intelligent life being high, so far, it's yet to be discovered.
Scientists have plenty of theories and opinions on why this is. But ultimately, nobody knows for sure.
However, there is one theory that's pretty dark and actually, really quite terrifying.
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Actor, author and self-confessed 'space nerd' Kalpana Pot has shared a summary of the theory over on TikTok.
It's super interesting, but rather chilling at the same time.
"Take a look at our Milky Way Galaxy, some estimates say it has 400 billion stars," she says.
"And possibly, trillions of planets. Even if a tiny fraction of those planets have intelligent life, that's still a big number. Small amounts in space terms is still a lot.
"We've been scanning the skies for signals for over 60 years, but it's been radio silent.
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"We've been sending out our own signals intentionally and unintentionally for over a century. Yet, no responses."
This is where things get rather dark.
If there is life out there, why aren't they getting in touch, or answering our signals?
Well, apparently, it could be intentional.
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Kalpana explains: "In such a vast universe and galaxy, where the f**k is everyone? There's lots of opinions to this question but there's one that stands out as the darkest.
"That's the dark forest hypothesis, which states that there probably is a lot of intelligent life, but they know to stay silent.
"They could be too afraid to send signals for fear of being discovered, because maybe there's a douchebag alien civilisation out there that could completely eliminate you."
Kalpana explains that ultimately, on Earth, we're all just trying to survive. So who says that isn't the case for all life out there?
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"If that's the case and we've sent out a lot of signals, we might have fu**ed ourselves," she added.
People were pretty spooked by the theory, with one person commenting: "The dark forest theory is kind of unsettling."
While another said: "The odds of us being the only life forms has to be miniscule."
And a third added: "Either way, if there IS other life, but also if not, it's both terrifying but at the same time interesting."