Alien Civilizations Might Suffer Similar Fate as Easter Island
Climate change and unrestrained population growth may be two of humanity’s greatest threats. But according to a recent paper published by astrophysicist Adam Frank, it’s probably a pretty common problem experienced by other civilizations throughout the universe.
Depending on who you talk to, there may or may not be evidence for the existence of extraterrestials, but even if we haven’t directly located them, chances are pretty high they’re out there. And if they’re anything like us, they’ve probably faced negative environmental feedback from the intensive energy use burgeoning civilizations put on their planet.
Using a more terrestrial example, Frank and his colleagues looked at the ancient civilization that once inhabited Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island – a society often examined as a lesson in sustainability.
There’s evidence that the inhabitants of Easter Island, once a thriving civilization, eventually depleted their resources, having not planned for the strain of a growing population. Using their fate as example, Frank outlined four trajectories an alien civilization might face under similar circumstances, considering our fate has yet to be determined.
Frank calls the first scenario the “die-off” model, where the planet’s population shoots up to an unsustainable point, while temperature slowly increases. Over a short time period, the civilization experiences a massive die-off as the planet’s resources can’t sustain the population, while climate disasters increasingly occur from the byproducts of massive energy consumption.
In this scenario, a small percentage of the population survives, leveling off with temperature as energy use decreases, though this is only a fraction of the previous population – something like 30 percent.
The second scenario is the “sustainability” model, a.k.a. the “soft-landing model,” in which the population rises, but realizes it must do something to curtail rising temperatures. This civilization finds a viable solution to climate change, simultaneously leveling off population growth and rising temperatures – an ideal outcome.
The third and fourth scenarios, known as the “collapse” and “collapse with resource change” models, imagine a civilization that significantly over-leverages its resources, creating temperature rise that greatly outpaces population growth. This massive flux in temperature creates catastrophic climate disasters that kill off the entire population. In the collapse with resource change model, the civilization makes an attempt to stop the increase in temperature, but not soon enough, as the die-off occurs anyway – an equally depressing scenario.
So, what’s the biggest takeaway from Frank’s paper? While it’s interesting to postulate about alien civilizations and their struggle to overcome the same issues with energy and sustainability, the paper may be considering the fact that this could be an answer to Fermi’s Paradox; if we haven’t found life out in the cosmos, maybe it’s because others fell victim to climate change or a similar sustainability issue we’re currently tasked with.
Will we have the foresight to achieve that soft-landing model, or will we collapse and die-off?
Watch the trailer for No Impact Man, the story of a family that implemented a zero environmental impact lifestyle over the course of a year:
The Alternative 3-Secret Space Program Connection
In 1977, a British television program titled Science Report: Alternative 3, part of an Anglia TV documentary series, aired and planted the seed of fear about an alien invasion in society at large. The program focuses on the disappearances of prominent scientists, engineers, and astronomers. The speculation is that the Earth is collapsing and will soon be unable to support human life, so these people have been taken by several governments acting together in an intergovernmental Secret Space Program (SSP) with the goal of developing colonies on other planets, using the moon as a way-station.
If you ever have a chance to view the program, it is so convincing that you will want to volunteer for the SSP, pack up your family, and head for Mars. However, there is only one known copy: it is in the possession of Alternative 3’s director. It is thought to be fading and grainy due to the passage of time. All other copies of the program were destroyed as were all contracts and any paperwork referencing the show as if the program never existed.
Although the TV program aired in June of 1977, the producers claimed it was originally intended to air on April Fool’s Day. Workers in the industry were striking, so the air date was postponed. When it did air, the reaction of viewers was reminiscent of the 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Wells of “The War of the Worlds,” which created civil unrest and havoc. The broadcast was meant to be a joke, but thousands of people in the U.S. thought the Earth was being invaded by Martians. They hit the streets in panic, not knowing what to do next or how to escape.
The program was so disturbing it was only shown once in England and once in Australia. The U.S. refused to air the program. It was never shown anywhere again. Even though the directors and producers of Alternative 3 were adamant that it was fiction, questions still abound. Is there some truth to the Alternative 3 theory?
Are there three alternatives for Earth inhabitants in case there is a catastrophic event that threatens the habitability of the planet? Thousands of people disappear every year, never to be heard from again. Could these people have been abducted to develop a Breakaway Civilization on the moon or another planet, like Mars?
Fact or Fiction?
Immediately after it aired, the producers of the program announced it had been fiction. The slot where Alternative 3 aired was one that routinely ran documentary episodes. The title of the series was Science Reports and Alternative 3 was the title of just one segment; it was the last program of the season of the Science Reports.
The program was created by reputable reporters and researchers who were well respected for their documentaries. Why would they risk their reputation by airing such a hoax? Was it really a hoax or was it a disguised message to the public about a secret space program?
A book with the same title, Alternative 3, was subsequently written by Leslie Watkins. It presented some of the theories of the alleged hoax as truth. The book and the television program promoted the idea that astronauts had landed on Mars in 1962 in a joint U.S./U.S.S.R. effort and definitively identified intelligent extraterrestrial life. It also promoted the idea that climate change was just one thing that could soon make the Earth uninhabitable.