Where are all the aliens? Scientists put forward the "Berserker Hypothesis". Do you think it is reliable?

Scientists put forward the "Berserker hypothesis" to explain the famous Fermi paradox. I believe everyone has a certain understanding of Fermi's paradox, which roughly means that, according to common sense, the universe is so big and has existed for so long, there should be a large number of alien civilizations, but we haven't found any. Where have all these aliens gone? Let's take a look at another conjecture of Fermi's paradox-"Berserker Hypothesis".

"Berserker Hypothesis" holds that the reason why we can't find aliens (or aliens didn't come to us) may be because there is an intelligent machine called "Berserker" in the Milky Way, and this machine has prevented the evolution of interstellar civilization in the Milky Way.

According to scientists' imagination, "Berserker" can sail at high speed in space, collect interstellar resources, repair and copy itself, and has a high level of intelligence. Of course, they are also equipped with various alien black technologies.

When Berserker arrives at a suitable planet, it will be treated harmlessly in a planned way, including transforming the planet's environment into an "ideal state" and eliminating possible potential threats. Obviously, if there are intelligent creatures on this planet, they are likely to be regarded as "potential threats" and removed.

Because "Berserker" has a strong ability of self-replication, so as long as there is a "Berserker", then their number will multiply in the next time. In this case, even if their speed in space is not fast (much lower than the speed of light), it will only take hundreds of millions of years to spread all over the galaxy.

According to this hypothesis, it is precisely because of this that there will be silence in the Milky Way, because intelligent creatures that may have evolved into interstellar civilization have been eliminated by Berserker. So how did this "Berserker" come from? We need to know about the von Neumann detector first.

John von neumann, known as the "father of computers", once pointed out that the essence of life is actually a specific organizational form of matter, so as long as a system can construct matter in the right way, then the system can show properties similar to life, such as self-repair and self-replication.

(john von neumann)

He called this imaginary system a "universal assembler". 1966, von Neumann's related theories and notes were compiled and published in the book "Self-replicating Automata Theory", which was later named "von Neumann Machine".

The theoretical basis of "Berserker Hypothesis" comes from this. This hypothesis holds that when a civilization reaches a certain level of science and technology, it is possible to produce "von Neumann machines" with high intelligence and use them to complete ultra-long-distance space exploration and planetary transformation.

Why do you say that? Actually, this is easy to understand. For example, even if we humans realize the controlled nuclear fusion in the future, it will take a long time to reach the distant exoplanet, and even if we fly to the target planet through hardships, we will face many unknowns. Therefore, it can be said that if we have the ability to create a powerful "von Neumann machine" to explore the road and transform this livable planet into what we want, then we may do the same.

Thus, this alternative conjecture of Fermi's paradox seems to be self-evident, that is, a long time ago, the earliest aliens in the galaxy who reached the corresponding scientific and technological level launched Berserker into space. Since then, these "Berserker" have spread all over the Milky Way. Under their interference, no intelligent creatures in the Milky Way can evolve advanced alien civilization.

Then the problem is coming. If Berserker really exists, why haven't they been found on the earth? I have to say that this is indeed a "soft spot" of the Berserker Hypothesis, and there are only two reluctant explanations. One thinks that because the Earth is located in the "remote area" of the Milky Way, the speed of Berserker is not as fast as expected, and they may not have reached the Earth yet. Another thinks that Berserker may have been to the earth a long time ago, when the earth was just there.

Another question is, where are all the aliens who created Berserker? There are two explanations for this. One view is that these aliens are probably extinct now, because the universe is not friendly to organic life, while another view is that these aliens still exist, but their technology has not broken through the bottleneck of interstellar travel, or they can only stay in a small range (relative to the whole galaxy).

It should be pointed out that "Berserker Hypothesis" is only an alternative conjecture of Fermi Paradox, so this view cannot be used as a scientific basis, you just need to know about it.