Why not take a moment to ponder the Fermi Paradox?

Hey, why not pause to think about the possibilities of extraterrestrial life? Galactic colonization? The Drake equation? The intelligent beings that might be listening to the Golden Record at this very moment?

Set aside ten minutes to dive into Tim Urban's fantastic explainer on the Fermi paradox. Posted in 2014, it's the third most popular article on his blog, Wait But Why. Even if you've skimmed the article before, the topic is mind-bending enough to warrant another readthrough. Here are the main points.

Possibility 1) Super-intelligent life could very well have already visited Earth, but before we were here.

Possibility 2) The galaxy has been colonized, but we just live in some desolate rural area of the galaxy.

Possibility 3) The entire concept of physical colonization is a hilariously backward concept to a more advanced species.

Possibility 4) There are scary predator civilizations out there, and most intelligent life knows better than to broadcast any outgoing signals and advertise their location. 

Possibility 5) There's only one instance of higher-intelligent life—a "superpredator" civilization (like humans are here on Earth)—that is far more advanced than everyone else and keeps it that way by exterminating any intelligent civilization once they get past a certain level.

Possibility 6) There's plenty of activity and noise out there, but our technology is too primitive and we're listening for the wrong things. 

Possibility 7) We are receiving contact from other intelligent life, but the government is hiding it.

Possibility 8) Higher civilizations are aware of us and observing us (AKA the "Zoo Hypothesis").

Possibility 9) Higher civilizations are here, all around us. But we're too primitive to perceive them.