Whatever prevents interstellar civilisations from arising from non-living matter
This article is about an implication of the Fermi paradox. For the music album by Tub Ring, see The Great Filter (album).
The Great Filter is the idea that, in the development of life from the earliest stages of abiogenesis to reaching the highest levels of development on the Kardashev scale, there is a barrier to development that makes detectable extraterrestrial life exceedingly rare.[1][2] The Great Filter is one possible resolution of the Fermi paradox.
The concept originates in Robin Hanson's argument that the failure to find any extraterrestrial civilizations in the observable universe implies that something is wrong with one or more of the arguments (from various scientific disciplines) that the appearance of advanced intelligent life is probable; this observation is conceptualized in terms of a "Great Filter" which acts to reduce the great number of sites where intelligent life might arise to the tiny number of intelligent species with advanced civilizations actually observed (currently just one: human).[3] This probability threshold, which could lie in the past or following human extinction, might work as a barrier to the evolution of intelligent life, or as a high probability of self-destruction.[1][4] The main conclusion of this argument is that the easier it was for life to evolve to the present stage, the bleaker the future chances of humanity probably are.
The idea was first proposed in an online essay titled "The Great Filter – Are We Almost Past It?", written by economist Robin Hanson. The first version was written in August 1996 and the article was last updated on September 15, 1998[update]. Hanson's formulation has received recognition in several published sources discussing the Fermi paradox and its implications.
^ abHanson, Robin (1998). "The Great Filter – Are We Almost Past It?". Archived from the original on 2010-05-07.
^Overbye, Dennis (August 3, 2015). "The Flip Side of Optimism About Life on Other Planets". New York Times. Archived from the original on September 19, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
^Hanson 1998: "No alien civilizations have substantially colonized our solar system or systems nearby. Thus among the billion trillion stars in our past universe, none has reached the level of technology and growth that we may soon reach. This one data point implies that a Great Filter stands between ordinary dead matter and advanced exploding lasting life. And the big question is: How far along this filter are we?"
^Bostrom, Nick (May–June 2008). "Where Are They? Why I hope the search for extraterrestrial life finds nothing" (PDF). Technology Review. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 72–77. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-12-24. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
The GreatFilter is the idea that, in the development of life from the earliest stages of abiogenesis to reaching the highest levels of development on...
there being no other intelligent life in our observable universe". The GreatFilter, a concept introduced by Robin Hanson in 1996, represents whatever natural...
A coffee filter is a filter used for various coffee brewing methods including but not limited to drip coffee filtering. Filters made of paper (disposable)...
ISSN 2719-4973. Retrieved 18 October 2022. Brin, G. D. (1 September 1983). "The Great Silence - the Controversy Concerning Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life"...
intelligent life. The GreatFilter hypothesis is a more general counterpart to the Berserker hypothesis, which posits that a great event or barrier prevents...
A particulate air filter is a device composed of fibrous, or porous materials which removes particulates such as smoke, dust, pollen, mold, viruses and...
Scientist), and has conducted research on signalling. He also proposed the GreatFilter hypothesis. Hanson received a BS in physics from the University of California...
A cigarette filter, also known as a filter tip, is a component of a cigarette, along with cigarette paper, capsules and adhesives. Filters were introduced...
A trickling filter is a type of wastewater treatment system. It consists of a fixed bed of rocks, coke, gravel, slag, polyurethane foam, sphagnum peat...
has argued that there must be a "GreatFilter" preventing space colonization to account for the paradox. That filter may lie in the past, if intelligence...
particulate air) filter, also known as high-efficiency particulate absorbing filter[citation needed] and high-efficiency particulate arrestance filter, is an efficiency...
An astronomical filter is a telescope accessory consisting of an optical filter used by amateur astronomers to simply improve the details and contrast...
allows the filter to be easily opened to remove the filtered solids, and allows easy cleaning or replacement of the filter media. Filter presses cannot...
Analogue filters are a basic building block of signal processing much used in electronics. Amongst their many applications are the separation of an audio...
uniformities. Every filter is a prefilter and both are filter subbases. Every prefilter and filter subbase is contained in a unique smallest filter, which they...
mixed-signal system (analog and digital), a reconstruction filter, sometimes called an anti-imaging filter, is used to construct a smooth analog signal from a...
cultures in existence. It also assumes that these extraterrestrials have great reverence for independent, natural evolution and development. In particular...
by natural events, and others. These lines of reasoning lead to the GreatFilter hypothesis, which states that since there are no observed extraterrestrial...
engineering Clarke's three laws Drake equation Dyson sphere Gerhard Lenski GreatFilter HD 164595 Orders of magnitude (energy) Orders of magnitude (power) Quiet...
In gemmology, a Chelsea filter is a dichromatic optical filter used for identifying coloured stones. The "chelsea" filter was originally devised by Anderson...
The Kuwahara filter is a non-linear smoothing filter used in image processing for adaptive noise reduction. Most filters that are used for image smoothing...
modal filter, sometimes referred to as a point closure, is a road design that restricts the passage of certain types of vehicle. Modal filtering is often...
Firewall Australia or Great Firewall Reef (a reference to Great Barrier Reef and the Great Firewall of China). The proposed filter has been referred to...
Global Information