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 human development, somewhat akin to zookeepers observing animals in a zoo.

Adherents of the hypothesis consider that Earth and humans are being secretly surveyed using 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 humans 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.

*Charles Fort's unpublished 1915 manuscript novel X, describes how a sinister race from Mars secretly controls events on Earth. Here the emphasis is on the negative possibilities of the Zoo hypothesis. Fort burnt the manuscript, but one surviving quote from it is "The Earth is a farm. We are someone else's property."

*In Olaf Stapledon's 1937 novel "Star Maker", great care is taken by the Symbiont race to keep its existence hidden from "pre-utopian" primitives, "lest they should lose their independence of mind". It is only when such worlds become utopian-level space travellers that the Symbionts make contact and bring the young utopia to an equal footing.

*In "Star Trek", the Federation has a strict Prime Directive policy of nonintervention 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, after which they initiated first contact.

*In Douglas Adams's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", beings disguised as mice are the architects of a powerful computer (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. Later in Life, the Universe and Everything, Adams describes the Earth's isolation as being due to the galaxy's disgust of cricket.

*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 beginning of the book, when mankind is about to achieve spaceflight, the aliens reveal their existence and quickly end the arms race, colonialism, racial segregation and the Cold War.

*Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sentinel" and "" 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.

*In "The Journeyman Project" series, nuclear wars cause humanity to turn from its warlike ways and unite under a world government. Seeing that they have done this, alien beings (especially the Cyrollans) decide to allow Earth to enter the Symbiotry of Peaceful Beings, a league of alien nations created to share knowledge and culture.

*In "Starcraft", a computer game by Blizzard Entertainment, the Xel'Naga observe a race that would be known as the Protoss from afar until they believed them ready for contact. The Protoss later do the same with the humans who arrive on the edge of Protoss space, although they are forced to reveal themselves to protect the humans from the Zerg threat (although it was initially misinterpreted as an attempt at invasion).

*In the "Star Ocean" video game universe, all beings that are technologically advanced enough to achieve space flight adhere to the UP3 (Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact), which sets rules for encountering and even visiting underdeveloped worlds.

*In episode 704 of South Park, entitled "Cancelled", the characters discover that all of life on Earth has been put there by aliens and observed as an interplanetary reality television series called "Earth".

References

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

ee also

* solipsism
* Transhumanism
*Tub Ring - Chicago avant-garde punk band who released an album called "Drake Equation" and followed it up with "Fermi Paradox", "Zoo Hypothesis" and "The Great Filter", completing a sort of alien quadrilogy of albums.