为何找不到外星人？牛津学者沮丧报告：人类可能是宇宙唯一智慧生命

UFO hunters’ hopes have been dashed by a new study that says humans are highly likely to be the only form of intelligent life in the Universe.

一项新的研究表明人类极有可能是宇宙中唯一的智慧生命形式，这可能意味着UFO猎人的希望已经破灭。

A team of scientists led by Anders Sandberg, a research fellow at Oxford University, have concluded that there is a 53% to 99.6% probability that humans are alone in our galaxy, the Milky Way, with a 39% to 85% chance that no intelligent life exists outside of the “observable universe”, Metro reports.

由牛津大学研究员安德斯-桑德伯格领导的科学家小组得出结论认为，人类在我们星系银河系中独处的概率为53％至99.6％，有39％至85％的概率智能生物不存在于“可观察的宇宙”之外，外媒Metro报道。

The team reached that somewhat depressing verdict after studying the “Fermi paradox”, which addresses the belief that there is a high probability of intelligent aliens existing in the universe despite a lack of supporting evidence, the newspaper says.

该报纸称，“费米悖论”表明尽管缺乏支持证据，宇宙中存在智能外星人的可能性很高，但该团队研究了该悖论后达成了这个令人沮丧的结论。

The study, called Dissolving the Fermi Paradox, does not dismiss the possibility of alien life but rather suggests that other life forms could be “less advanced than on Earth or simply no longer exist”, the Daily Express says.

这项名为“解决费米悖论”的研究并没有否定外星人存在的可能性，而是暗示其他生命形式可能“不如地球上先进或者不复存在”，外媒《每日邮报》称。

Speaking to astronomy news website Universe Today, Sandberg said: “One can answer the Fermi Paradox by saying intelligence is very rare, but then it needs to be tremendously rare.

桑德伯格在天文新闻网站“今日宇宙”中说道：“人们可以对费米悖论作出回答，即智慧生命很罕见，但这必须是极其罕见。”

“Another possibility is that intelligence doesn’t last very long, but it is enough that one civilisation survives for it to become visible.”

“另一种可能性是智慧生命不会持续很长时间，但足够长时间以让这个文明能够生存下来并变得可见。”

There is a “fairly high likelihood that we are alone”, Sandberg adds.

桑德伯格补充道，“我们在宇宙中是孤独的的可能性相当高”。

Other studies have come up with a variety of theories as to why humans have not been contacted by extraterrestrials.

其他研究已经提出了各种关于人类为什么没有被外星人接触的理论。

One theory, known as the zoo hypothesis, states that there is an abundance of life in the universe but that such life forms consider humans to be too “basic and primitive” to merit attention, says US-based magazine The Atlantic.

一种被称为动物园假说的理论指出，宇宙中存在着丰富的生命，但这些生命体认为人类过于“基本和原始”，不能引起他们的注意，美国的“大西洋”杂志说。

Another suggests that intelligent life “pops into existence for a few thousand years before getting wiped out of existence for mysterious reasons”, the magazine says.

另一个研究表明，“由于神秘的原因”，智慧生命“出现了几千年后被消灭”，该杂志说。