The Great Cosmic Silence: What Does the Fermi Paradox Tell About the Future of Humanity?

Abstract

This article examines how institutional time horizons shape the long‐term survival prospects of human technological civilisation. While research on global catastrophic and existential risks has expanded, the temporal structures of political‐economic institutions remain underexamined. Using the Fermi paradox as a heuristic lens, I argue that the capacity of complex technological societies to sustain long‐term, risk‐minimising and cooperative action represents a civilisational bottleneck. The challenge of organising extended temporal responsibility raises fundamental questions for political economy and international relations. From this perspective, the article considers the institutional conditions required for a cooperative global order capable of safeguarding humanity's future and the flourishing of life. It explores pathways to extend collective time horizons globally, including strengthened long‐term governance frameworks, mechanisms for intergenerational representation and integrated forms of global political authority. The intertwining of questions, for example, through discounting and justice, suggests that new umbrella concepts are needed to translate such analysis into concrete policy or institutional design. The article concludes by discussing ‘temporal socialism’ and processual ‘world statehood’ as demanding yet viable concepts for institutionalising longer‐term policy orientation of the world system.