{"title":"Too late to be careless","authors":"Mark Buchanan","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02967-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>There are dozens of proposed answers. Maybe life really is just extremely rare. Or perhaps life is common, but developing powerful technology able to spread through an entire galaxy is not. Maybe intelligent civilizations do exist, and being millions of years more advanced than us, they have already visited — and know how to hide. Perhaps they are already living among us (explaining why spiders seem so creepy). Or perhaps other civilizations know from vast experience that the galaxy is brimming with deadly predators, and so they keep a very low profile. And then the gloomiest solution: could it be that all intelligent civilizations eventually develop a technology that destroys them?</p><blockquote><p>“Could it be that all intelligent civilizations eventually develop a technology that destroys them?”</p></blockquote>","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":17.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Physics","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02967-w","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PHYSICS, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
There are dozens of proposed answers. Maybe life really is just extremely rare. Or perhaps life is common, but developing powerful technology able to spread through an entire galaxy is not. Maybe intelligent civilizations do exist, and being millions of years more advanced than us, they have already visited — and know how to hide. Perhaps they are already living among us (explaining why spiders seem so creepy). Or perhaps other civilizations know from vast experience that the galaxy is brimming with deadly predators, and so they keep a very low profile. And then the gloomiest solution: could it be that all intelligent civilizations eventually develop a technology that destroys them?
“Could it be that all intelligent civilizations eventually develop a technology that destroys them?”
期刊介绍：
Nature Physics is dedicated to publishing top-tier original research in physics with a fair and rigorous review process. It provides high visibility and access to a broad readership, maintaining high standards in copy editing and production, ensuring rapid publication, and maintaining independence from academic societies and other vested interests.
The journal presents two main research paper formats: Letters and Articles. Alongside primary research, Nature Physics serves as a central source for valuable information within the physics community through Review Articles, News & Views, Research Highlights covering crucial developments across the physics literature, Commentaries, Book Reviews, and Correspondence.
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