The Fermi paradox - has it unknowingly been resolved?

Enrico Fermi once wondered aloud about the existence of extraterrestrial life.  Where are they?  Assuming that life is abundant in the universe, we'd expect that by now some signs of an advanced civilization would be apparent.  Perhaps a signal in the form of an interstellar “hello,” an alien space craft, or a broadcast of some alien version of the Price is Right.

Yet Nothing.

The fact that there is no evidence of extraterrestrial life, in a universe that should be teeming with life, is the Fermi paradox. 

UFO accounts are not considered good evidence.  Despite numerous video and eye witness accounts, none of this evidence could be considered conclusive.  Photos and videos could be misleading and/or doctored.  Eye witness accounts may be based on a misunderstanding of what was witnessed or simply hoaxes.  

If an alien civilization has sent us a message in response to a signal detected from earth, it would have detected the signal within the range of around 100 light years since our first broadcast from earth (the first major broadcast was President Woodrow Wilson's Armistice Day speech on November 11, 1918).  At the time of authoring this post, a little over 100 years has passed since that broadcast. Therefore at most, the response would need to come from a planet whose distance is limited to within 50 light years from earth, as we would need to sum the time it took for radio signals to travel to the alien world plus the time the signal took to reach us, and this time could not exceed much more than 100 years (the time of the original broadcast).  Obviously this limits the candidates of intelligently habitable planets that are intent in responding to a signal sent from earth.

So what is the motivation for alien inhabitants to send signals that can ultimately be detected by others?  The most obvious reasons might be:

1. No intention at all- inhabitants of alien worlds may be broadcasting radio or tv signals to their own inhabitants without concern of beings outside of their own planet.

2. Scientific curiosity and the spirit of exploration.

In this post I will make a controversial claim.  I believe its possible aliens have already been in contact with us for quite some time.  There may be a far more direct means of communication at our disposal, and we as a species have not yet realized it.  Hence, I believe the Fermi paradox is resolved.

The Near Death Experience

In the mid-70s the phenomenon known as the near death experience entered the mainstream via the publication of the book Life After Life by psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Moody.  In it he describe the strange phenomena that occurs at the threshold of death for which he coined the term Near Death Experience.  People have reported seeing a light, having an out of body experience, traveling through a tunnel, seeing loved ones that have passed away, as well as several other standard features that have been detailed by countless individuals who have technically crossed the threshold of death.  Death being defined as no heart beat (cardiac arrest), no respiration, and no measurable brain activity.  Note that there remains some controversy in this definition of death and its worthwhile to read the material related to cardiac arrest and measurable brain activity.  Moody described 15 elements of the near death experience, including those above.  But some specific elements stand out.  Witnesses report obtaining great knowledge, and also seeing what are described as beings of light (quite tall in stature) sometimes referred to as "angels." Is it possible that such beings of light might be aliens?

The following are some excerpts from independently reported nde's documented on the NDERF.org website, the largest collection of ndes available:

• "At this moment, I started seeing on each side of my bed two high and luminous presences (figures) that apparently were there to escort me. They didn't have a clear form, just like beings of light. Then I saw towards the foot of the bed, a group of more or less six luminous people, but again I couldn't see their faces."
• "Then a mist of light in the middle of where I was going. All at once, I was in front of these beings of light, they were much taller than I was and I can't say that I saw faces or arms just outlines sort of. "
• "There was a thick row of tall sunflowers and standing behind looking over them were these beings of light. They were shaped like a human body, but there were no features, just light and all around the edges, brighter light radiating out. "
• "There were two female, angelic looking beings of light. They had bodies but were shining so brightly that I could not see their faces in detail. They encouraged me not to be afraid."
• "Suddenly I was in the presence of a Being of Light. I could not see the face, could communicate, but not in words or pictures even - in some connection of oneness."

Note, as would be expected, if such beings are alien, then it would be impossible for the experiencer to make sense of their appearance given they have no past memory for reference.  Hence it's logical that they would be described as featureless or unrecognizable as described above.

If all this is so, and I grant its a big "if" a few conclusions might be drawn:

Some alien civilizations would have made the same conclusion I've made here in this post.  With this realization, they may have tried to explore further contact with us and other alien species by controlling the death process, bringing their "explorers" past the threshold of death with the ability to revive them with some effective revival techniques.  Or with a greater understanding of the architecture of the brain,  these aliens may have found a way to make contact without the need to bring someone to the brink of death.

If this were true, it might explain why there's no drive for alien civilizations to make contact with us via interstellar radio (or other wavelength) signals or alien space crafts.  Theres a much more direct and immediate way to make first contact.

Where do we go from here?

We have only just begun to explore the near death experience.  Since the mid 70's there has been much research in the topic, but not much discussion of the profundity of alien contact via these experiences.  And there is still no mainstream scientific acceptance that near death experiences are anything but hallucinations arising from a dysfunctional brain close to death.

There are some areas of research in near death experiences that would provide validity to these experiences. If the evidence is strong enough to show that these experiences are not hallucinatory, then we have reason to study further the meaning of these experiences.  This would inevitably include research into the beings of light and hence, alien contact.  However it would be difficult to explore the reality of these experiences since it would require bringing research participants to the brink of death.  Perhaps controlled studies of near death experiences performed while patients undergo surgical procedures such as Deep Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest might be a pathway forward.  This medical procedure effectively stops blood circulation to the brain so that delicate surgeries can be performed within the brain.  For all intents and purposes, these patients are clinically dead, and there have been a few documented cases of near death experiences in patients undergoing this procedure.  Such "piggy back" studies would face resistance from medical ethics review boards and are unlikely to be approved.  Once such study was proposed, known as the COOL Study, but it went nowhere.

The ability to do such studies might be difficult to perform in the United States but I don't doubt researchers in other countries have more latitude to perform this risky, brink of death research.  Perhaps the idea of contacting an alien civilization and having access to the knowledge they possess is something too tempting to pass up,