Zoo Hypothesis: What If Aliens Are Using Us as Lab Rats?

History has stated that we have never been contacted by extraterrestrials so far. However, physicists and experts such as Enrico Fermi thought this is odd, considering there's a huge chance alien life exists. Here's one theory to turn the table for conspiracy theorists: what if we're being observed by alien life?

Fermi created what's known as the Fermi Paradox in 1950, where it centers on the question "just where are all the aliens?" He makes sense, because the chances of Earth being the only planet to house life in quite the impossibly-large universe is a bit improbable.

According to Curiosity, theories suggests that there are at least 100 Earth-like planets for every grain of sand in the world, yet we've never encountered a single alien.

Or maybe they just don't want to. Enter the Zoo Hypothesis.

Curiosity explained that while the theory itself is spooky, it may make sense. Aliens know that Earth exists and it has life, but they are purposely avoiding contact. Why? Probably because they want to study us from afar.

This was theorized by John Ball in 1973, thinking that maybe aliens think of Earth life as animals in a zoo. Ball has suggested that maybe alien civilizations are advanced enough to be aware of our existence but also aware to not influence our primitive society.

This is similar to Star Trek's Prime Directive, where Starfleet Officers are only allowed to observe but not interfere in the progress of species.

According to Futurism, a more popular but more optimistic answer to the Fermi Paradox is that life is very much primitive that space travel and establishing contact between neighboring planets are still impossible.

However, with news of alien structures and strange signals on other planets and from outer space, it seems the impossibility is starting to become a reality.