The researchers named one of the main reasons that, in their opinion, prevents us from seeing representatives of hypothetical extraterrestrial civilizations. However, this does not greatly increase the chances of detecting the latter.
It is "fashionable" to talk about the Fermi paradox today: this can be explained by the success of individual private companies (primarily SpaceX) in the rocket and space field. However, it should be recalled: the Fermi paradox is called the absence of visible traces of the activity of hypothetical extraterrestrial civilizations, although in theory such civilizations could arise in various corners of the Universe and, therefore, come into contact with us. Despite the seeming simplicity of the wording, the best minds of the planet are struggling to solve the Fermi paradox.
Now the Spanish neurophysiologist Gabriel de la Torre presented his conclusions, who, together with his colleagues, analyzed the human perception of objects and phenomena. The experiment involved 137 volunteers who had to identify various man-made objects, such as a bridge, a house or a road, in satellite photos. In some of the photographs, among other things, there was a bright "anomaly" - a miniature photo of a gorilla.
It turned out that if in a normal situation a person notices this kind of oddity almost always, then focusing on some specific aspects of photography prevents 66% of volunteers from seeing gorillas.
The so-called "gorilla effect" scientists from the United States discovered about 20 years ago. They found that people counting passes between players may not notice a man in a gorilla costume who suddenly appears.
Gabriel de la Torre believes that these conclusions can be applied in the best possible way when searching for extraterrestrial civilizations. More precisely, then, according to him, attempts to find traces of extraterrestrial life in the photo are unsuccessful, since a person relies on his own ideas about the likely appearance of hypothetical aliens.
Moreover, as the results show, people with a rational mindset (in particular, scientists) more often than others prefer a method of analysis that can be deeply mistaken. “We do not understand how much the perception of the world, which is unique to humans, limits our capabilities, and it is difficult for us to admit it,” the scientist notes.
Speech, in particular, can be about the living of hypothetical aliens in several dimensions or exotic forms of matter, of which they can be composed. Although, again, these are just assumptions.
Earlier, we recall that the calculations carried out by other scientists demonstrated an extremely low probability of detecting extraterrestrial civilizations.