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One of the most prominent theories regarding alien life had the backing of major scientists, with legendary astrophysicist Stephen Hawking expressing his faith in one particular hypothesis that answers an unsettling question about the universe.
Regardless of what form they take and whether you think they are dangerous or not, one thing that most people agree on is that there has to be life of some form out there in the universe.
It's something that even former U.S. President Barack Obama has expressed his belief that there is life in outer space – although he did have to later clarify the meaning behind his assertion that aliens are 'real' – yet one question always seems to come up in response.
If extraterrestrial life does indeed exist and is out there somewhere in the universe, then why haven't we been contacted, or how have scientists discovered no trace of life despite decades of searching?
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Of course, even just our solar system is incredibly vast, and extending that to the entire universe means that it would be improbable for something to stumble upon our tracks, yet one theory that Stephen Hawking agreed with proposes a rather eerie answer to the never-ending conundrum.
As reported by Indy100, the theory – known as the 'dark forest hypothesis' – has recently gained traction on social media, prompting actor and author Kalpana Pot (@toknerdytome) to express her thoughts surrounding it on TikTok.
Pot outlines the incomparable size of the universe, with the Milky Way galaxy alone amassing 400 billion stars and trillions of planets, yet the lack of any communication with alien life appears to lead to one hypothesis that's more probable than not.
She details that the dark forest hypothesis "states that there probably is a lot of intelligent life but they know to stay silent. They could be too afraid to send signals for fear of being discovered, because maybe there's a douchebag alien civilization out there that will completely eliminate you."
It's something that Earth is perhaps naive towards, as while we could pose a threat ourselves, you never know what capabilities a hypothetical alien civilization or UFO could hold.
"When you look at all life on Earth, at our core, we're just trying to survive and will eliminate any threat we perceive," Pot continues. "This could be true for all life out there and if that's the case and we've sent a lot of signals, we might have f***ed ourselves.
"This hypothesis could also be projecting, we don't know, but it is one that Stephen Hawking agreed with," she concluded.
