Assuming our solar system’s newest interstellar object isn’t an alien mothership sent here to menace us, humankind still hasn’t spotted any signs of extraterrestrial life, let alone intelligence — which, given how incalculably vast the universe is, is strange. With all the potential homes for potential alien civilizations, why aren’t we seeing any evidence of them?

You’ve probably heard of the name for this conundrum: the Fermi Paradox. And you’ve probably heard of more than a few solutions to it, too.

There’s the infamous zoo hypothesis, which supposes that advanced aliens know about our planet but stay away to let us evolve naturally.

Or maybe you subscribe to spookier ones like the vulnerable worlds hypothesis, which holds that there may be a certain type of ominous technological inn

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