A disturbing 'zoo' theory may explain why we haven't yet discovered alien life

Despite myriad sightings of unidentified flying objects and alleged incidences of alien contact with Earth, so far we've put forward little hard evidence that we have intelligent company elsewhere in the universe.

Chandra X-ray Observatory/Hubble Space Telescope/Spitzer

• Given the size of the universe, it would seem impossible that intelligent life is unique to Earth.
• In 1973 researcher John Ball of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology put forward a hypothesis.
• He suggested aliens could be observing us like animals in a zoo.
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Although humanity has been searching for traces of intelligent extraterrestrial life for decades, we haven't found any evidence - despite the billions of stars surrounding us.

Given the infinite size of the universe and its age, it would seem almost impossible that intelligent life is unique to our planet - so why have we been unable to contact aliens as of yet?

In 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi came up with a possible reason why, which later came to be known as the Fermi Paradox.

The scientist hypothesized that there is, in fact, intelligent extraterrestrial life capable of colonizing entire galaxies - however, the quest for evidence to support this remains unsuccessful for various reasons.

Given the infinite size of the universe and its age, it would seem almost impossible that intelligent life is unique to our planet.

ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Adamo et al.

It's possible that aliens simply aren't able to understand us communicatively, or that they're too far away.

There are also theories that we've missed each other in time, as well as the hypothesis that aliens simply aren't interested in us.

San Francisco-based Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI), an organization committed to research and education on the search for intelligent life and contact with extraterrestrials, met in Paris to try and get to the bottom of why we continue to live in solitude in space.

Some have put forward the idea that aliens are around us as omnipresent observers

One hypothesis they came up with is that aliens may well have acknowledged our existence and even observed us.

However, they may have deliberately kept us at a distance.

A serious response to the Fermi Paradox was also put forward - and it isn't entirely new.

According to those who attended, it could be the case that aliens are holding us within some form of "space quarantine", in order not to interfere with or destroy our small biotope.

NASA/ESA/H. Teplitz and M. Rafelski, A. Koekemoer, R. Windhorst, and Z. Levay

In 1973, researcher John Ball of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) put forward the theory that aliens might be "omnipresently" observing us as one might observe animals in a reserve or a zoo.

According to this "zoo hypothesis", there may be extraterrestrial scientists studying our culture and environment who don't want to make contact - which would explain why, so far, we've felt so alone.

Read also: Scientists have found two planets outside our solar system that could host extra-terrestrial life

This idea was recently revisited at the Paris-based workshop, where attendees speculated that aliens could be holding us within some form of "space quarantine" in order not to interfere with or destroy our small "habitat."

The prerequisite for this theory is that there's intelligent life beyond our planet and that its inhabitants may even be superior to us cognitively.

Considering the number of sci-fi movies in which humanity is overwhelmed by the arrival of extraterrestrial life and ends up reacting in panic or with aggression, the theory isn't a completely implausible one.

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