A spacecraft approaches Earth, with its crew unconcerned about being detected. The dominant species below often mistakes the use of resources for military strength. Once in a secure position, they begin to analyze the atmosphere, surface, and communication signals.

These travelers have journeyed vast distances, far beyond the comprehension of Earth’s inhabitants. Yet, the biological makeup of Earth's beings is largely similar to theirs; both groups are carbon-based, which is essential for advanced life. However, due to their distinct evolutionary paths, these aliens exhibit different structural traits, a reality that many on Earth find hard to accept.

The similarities largely stop at physical characteristics. The aliens, who would be labeled as 'extraterrestrials' by Earthlings if they were detected, belong to a society that prioritizes understanding their environment, having long abandoned obstacles to progress such as religion and greed. Long before Earth formed, their ancestors had already advanced in sciences, mathematics, and various fields to comprehend their world.

In their mission to catalog species throughout the universe, the coordinators urged the explorers to assess emerging civilizations for potential future engagement. They aimed to identify cultures capable of long-term survival, given the immense distances separating galaxies.

Despite the trillions of planets in existence, species with the necessary attributes for enduring survival are exceedingly rare. Thus, the coordinators encouraged a flexible approach to evaluation. Nevertheless, the researchers are poised to conclude that Earth, nestled within the Milky Way, does not meet even the most basic criteria.

They quickly note the high levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere, indicative of recent industrial activity. The presence of these gases suggests that Earth's inhabitants still rely on fossil fuels for energy and production. In their experience, sustainable societies learn early on that depending on systems that drastically alter the atmosphere leads to inevitable ruin.

They also observe the way resources are distributed among Earth's people. With a sense of despair, they document how humans equate consumption with progress, a narrow-minded viewpoint. Even worse, this consumption is far from equitable. Centuries of excess by a privileged few have relegated the vast majority to lives of servitude. The value of all beings is measured by their contributions to this greedy minority, where the very essence of life appears to serve the mechanisms of what they call capitalism.

With a hint of disdain, they focus on immense facilities that house sentient beings in appalling conditions, bred and maintained solely for the benefit of humans. These humans divide themselves by arbitrary borders, where the mere accident of birthplace determines a life of extreme hardship or one that merely offers the illusion of happiness. Yet, those on the ‘better’ side deem their status as a result of their own efforts.

For the less fortunate, the situation is dire. They endure daily toil among the remnants discarded by others, laboring tirelessly to extract the planet's resources, without ever reaping the rewards of their work. Most die young from preventable diseases or injuries. The more fortunate view them with contempt, labeling them ‘uncivilized,’ despite the fact that their supposed barbarism stems directly from the oppressive conditions imposed by their hypocritical counterparts.

The so-called advanced individuals enjoy a somewhat easier life than those in squalor, but this is only a matter of degree. They too face relentless indignities, serving their parsimonious masters. The superficial comforts offered to them have led many to overlook their own plight.

This segment of society is stratified, with everyone still bound to a master in some way, but misled into believing they are superior to some and inferior to others. Their comparisons are based on trivial metrics, which are exacerbated into what compliant commentators term ‘culture wars.’

To stir division among the exploited, propagandists inject empty, inflammatory language into public discourse. They do this partly out of a misguided sense of superiority, bolstered by their servility to the ruling elite, who reward them with slightly larger scraps than the rest.

Only a minute fraction of Earth's population profits from these conflicts. Members of this discreet kleptocracy acquire their wealth through manipulated inheritances or exploitation that the populace condemns when perpetrated by others of the same class. Still, the masses accept their fate, having been conditioned over millennia to accept illogical and demonstrably false narratives.

Long ago, the ancestors of modern humans began crafting fantastical explanations for observable phenomena. They spoke of wrathful deities who demanded loyalty and instilled fear in their followers. By weaving tales of eternal consequences, they convinced others that loyalty equated to salvation, while disloyalty led to endless suffering. The true object of this loyalty was obscured in the divine but was, in reality, temporal.

These convoluted mandates were inscribed across numerous texts over centuries by various authors in different tongues. They proclaimed these unclear edicts as divine truths, regardless of their vagueness, immorality, or impracticality. This enabled their propagators to adopt a flexible, subjective interpretation that suggested timeless and infallible guidance—a perfect apparatus for oppression and exclusion.

Amazingly, enough individuals accepted these narratives to the point of indoctrinating their own children with the same damaging beliefs.

Thousands of years later, while a fraction of humanity strives to unravel the true wonders of existence, seeking knowledge that could enable global flourishing and cosmic exploration like these researchers, the majority remain entrapped by these outdated myths to their own detriment. The effort to maintain their belief system requires little modification to align with contemporary rationality, so deep-rooted is the legacy of deception.

Like the fictional lemmings—real creatures whose alleged suicidal behavior is merely another human myth—they blindly follow what they regard as spiritual leaders to their own doom. More insidiously, they drag those who see through the deception down with them. Meanwhile, their shepherds profit immensely while disregarding any doctrine.

Equally credulous, the masses accept the illusions imposed upon them by the wealthy who benefit from their labor. With surprising contentment, they relinquish the fruits of their hard work to those who contribute nothing in exchange for mere crumbs.

To rationalize this inequitable exchange, they convince themselves that their well-being, societal advancement, and all things good stem solely from the brilliance of these insatiable overlords—a notion implanted by the very oppressors. When challenged, however, believers struggle to articulate the foundation of their faith beyond having been told so. In such moments, they retreat to the metaphysical, employing a flimsy safety net against the collapse of reconcilability, linking fictitious divinity with narratives that obscure their subjugation.

As the galactic researchers observe this otherwise intriguing planet, they note in their logs that this society's days are numbered. The inhabitants' arrogance and ignorance have already manifested unmistakable signs of self-destruction. Yet, they stubbornly cling to their primitive ways, insisting that perpetuating the same practices over generations is not insanity, despite warnings from the more enlightened among them that it surely is.

Upon concluding their assessment of another civilization unworthy of further attention, the explorers activate their starship's drive, ready to traverse spacetime to the next opportunity. Meanwhile, on this orbiting rock, safely nestled within the heliosphere that protects it from the perils and wonders of interstellar space, an oblivious, arrogant species plods forward, ensuring its existence will barely register in the annals of cosmic history.

The Fermi paradox elucidated.

Robert Vanwey is the co-director of the Dharma Farm School of Translation and Philosophy. He also serves as the executive director of the EALS Global Foundation.

If you appreciate Rob’s work, you can follow him on the Evidence Files Substack for insights into technology, science, aviation, and the Himalayas, where he frequently lives and works.