Beatriz Gato-Rivera

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Beatriz Gato-Rivera is a theoretical physicist at the Instituto de Matematicas y Fisica (Institute of Mathematics and Fundamental Physics) in Madrid. She is notable for her proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox. In her paper "Brane Worlds, the Subanthropic Principle and the Undetectability Conjecture" Gato-Rivera explains why we have not discovered intelligent life outside of our own planet. According to Gato-Rivera, we may find ourselves in a universe in which there exists intelligent life but intelligent beings have chosen to cloak themselves from other civilizations, possibly for security reasons. Gato-Rivera compares the situation of humans in the universe to apes on Earth. Human beings might be so inconsequential in the scheme of intelligent life in the universe that more advanced civilizations do not find it worthwhile to interact with us. That we cannot detect them or the traces of their civilization is due to extraterrestrials desire to avoid unwanted intrusion in their affairs in the same way that humans employ screened windows to keep pests away.

The paper has been criticized as being unscientific, belonging more appropriately to the category of science fiction.