Is it possible that we haven’t heard from any advanced alien civilizations because they’ve “transcended” – i.e., achieved a state of existence so advanced that we can no longer perceive them? This is the essence of the Transcenion Hypothesis, first proposed by John Smart in a 2002 paper, titled “Answering the Fermi Paradox: Exploring the Mechanisms of Universal Transcension.”
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Matt Williams is a professional writer, science fiction author, and science communicator who currently writes for Universe Today, Interesting Engineering, Stardom Space, and Stellar Amenities. He is also the Director of Media Communications for Mars City Design and a member of Enterprise in Space and Explore Mars. His novels, The Formist Series, are available at Amazon.com and through Castrum Press. He lives with his wife and family on Vancouver Island in beautiful British Columbia.
Stories by Williams 
I don’t think I’d heard of the transcension hypothesis before. Makes a certain kind of sense—as much sense as any other answer to the Fermi Paradox that I’m familiar with.
It puts me in mind of one of my favorite science fiction series – Babylon 5. Are you familiar with it?
I am! That was one of my favorite shows back in the 90’s. The storytelling was so good on that show. The CGI… maybe didn’t age so well. But the storytelling is so good!
And yeah, now that you mention it, I totally see the connection to the transcension hypothesis.
Absolutely! This theory reminded me of G’Kar’s speech about the First Ones, where he’s trying to explain to Sinclair’s girlfriend what little they know about them.
That is a great scene. Pretty early in the series too, as I recall, foreshadowing a lot that was to come.