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184 If an alien presence is in our solar system, it may be deliberately hidden. Extraterrestrials could be monitoring or studying us without revealing themselves. We may be in an anthropological research area, a preserve, a wilderness, or a z00; we may be under quarantine; we may be in a sphere of influence that excludes others. Some extraterrestrial civilizations may observe a principle of noninterference toward less powerful intelligences because contact might wreck their usefulness as suppliers of unique infor- mation, or for ethical reasons. Hiding might not be a permanent policy. There may be thresholds that civilizations must pass before the more advanced initiate contact. Those thresholds could be scientific or technological, or they may be moral, ethical, or behavioral. Humankind is not sufficiently interesting to motivate extraterrestrials to contact us by signals or by spacecraft. We may be too primitive; we may have nothing that aliens want; we may be no threat to them. More advanced extraterrestrials may focus their attention on societies that have more to offer or that are potentially more dangerous. Extraterrestrial intelligences have evolved to a state beyond what we know or can observe, such as an existence that transcends the limitations of spacetime. Some extraterrestrial intelligences are so omniscient and omnipotent that they have the qualities of all-knowing, all-powerful gods. We may see their works around us without being able to detect their source. A very powerful civilization may have created our universe; or we may be in a simulation, a virtual reality. There never have been beacons. Even if technologically equipped aliens do imagine the existence of other civilizations, they may not operate Reformulating the Problem Humans Are Boring Conspiracy Some humans know that there is evidence of extraterrestrial signals or Ey ee OT Or oer Sn: OT ee artifacts, but do not inform the rest of us. Transcendence They Are God Explanations for the Lack of Signals No Beacons