Space and Astronomy Atlas

How The Universe Works
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Concept

Great Filter

Astrobiology and the Search for Life

The Great Filter is the idea that somewhere in the path from a planet's earliest lifeless chemistry to a spacefaring, detectable civilization, one or more barriers make that outcome exceedingly rare, which would help explain why the universe appears empty of other intelligent life despite its size and age. Proposed candidates for the filter range from the origin of life itself to civilizations destroying themselves before becoming interstellar.

Facts
Concept Domain
Astrobiology 1
Formulated Year
1996 1
Proposed By
Robin Hanson 1
Connections

Associated With

Source Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Dyson Sphere, Concepts
Source Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Source Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Source Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Sources
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Great Filter, origin section
    The idea was first proposed in an online essay titled 'The Great Filter - Are We Almost Past It?'.
  • Great Filter, lead section
    The Great Filter is the idea that in the development of life from the earliest stages of abiogenesis to the highest levels of development on the Kardashev scale, there is a barrier that makes detectable extraterrestrial life exceedingly rare.
  • Associated With: Fermi Paradox
  • Associated With: Drake Equation
  • Associated With: Dyson Sphere
View the Source

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.