[ExI] When the Universe Seeds Life but Civilizations Stay Silent

[BillK]

Cellular Cosmic Isolation: When the Universe Seeds Life but
Civilizations Stay Silent
by Paul Gilster | Jan 20, 2026
<https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/01/20/cellular-cosmic-isolation-when-the-universe-seeds-life-but-civilizations-stay-silent/>
Quotes:
So many answers to the Fermi question have been offered that we have a
veritable bestiary of solutions, each trying to explain why we have
yet to encounter extraterrestrials.

The cosmos isn’t hostile to intelligence. It’s just structured in a
way that makes electromagnetic conversation between civilizations
vanishingly unlikely—not impossible, just so improbable that null
results after decades of searching are exactly what we’d expect.

Each civilization, then, is like a cell in a vast organism: seeded
with the same chemical building blocks, developing according to local
conditions, briefly active, then transforming or falling silent before
contact with other cells occurs. Cellular Cosmic Isolation.
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That seems likely to me. Agrees with the evidence so far.
Some interesting comments at the end of the article as well.
BillK.