In a recent report, NASA scientists provide devastating explanations for why they think it’s unlikely that we’ve ever come across sophisticated alien life.

They contend that all sentient life has probably killed itself before evolving to a level of sophistication that would allow for such an encounter. They also feel that unless we take action, mankind will certainly suffer the same destiny.

According to the “Great Filter” idea, other civilizations—possibly several—have lived throughout the history of the cosmos by “filtering out” diverse types of life. However, according to the publication “Avoiding the ‘Great Filter’: Extraterrestrial Life and Humanity’s Future in the Universe,” they all eliminated themselves before they could reach Earth.

According to their research, all sentient species, including humans, has entrenched dysfunctions that might “snowball swiftly into the Great Filter.”

However, the report by a group of scientists headquartered at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California acknowledged that there is still some hope for humanity, if we can learn and take actions to prevent our own extinction.

Finding [destructive] traits in ourselves and neutralizing them beforehand is the key to humans effectively navigating such a global filter, astrophysicist Jonathan Jiang and his coauthors stated in the research that was published online on October 23.

Peer review of the article has not yet taken place.

The authors contend that anything that threatens to exterminate humanity may theoretically equally endanger intelligent life on distant worlds. The authors warn that nuclear war, pandemics, climate change, and unchecked artificial intelligence are among the possible offenders—which might have an effect on humans or other intelligent life forms.

Working together to survive will be the key and the toughest obstacle of all, according to the experts.

The greatest heights of creation have been reached thanks to intraspecies rivalry and, more crucially, cooperation, as history has shown. And yet, we continue to promote ideas like racism, genocide, injustice, and sabotage that appear to be the opposite of long-term sustainable progress, the authors warn. 

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Check out the full paper here.