History Main / InvisibleAliens

* ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds'': The aliens were never shown in Season 1; we only see their [[RobotSoldier cyborg army]], although only a vague remnant of one. [[spoiler:Season 2 shows they're ''humans''.]]

* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series explains why humanity wasn't contacted before we opened the [[PortalNetwork Mass Relay]]. In the past explorers opened an inactive relay that led them to encounter the Rachni, this led to a massive BugWar that threatened all life in the Galaxy before the war was won by [[KillEmAll wiping out the rachni]]. As such, in order to prevent a repeat of the Rachni War, the [[FictionalUnitedNations Citadel Council]] made it illegal to open dormant Relays that lead to unknown locations, until extensive research has been done to determine where they go and that there aren't any hostile lifeforms on the other side. The only Relay linking Earth to the rest of the Galaxy is one such example. This Relay was not only dormant, it was covered in so much ice that for centuries humans thought it was a moon, specifically, Charon one of the moons of Pluto. Humans would later discover an alien technology archive on Mars that showed them how to reactivate the relay, which would pave the way for humanity's early period of interstellar expansion and eventually lead to FirstContact with the rest of the Galaxy.

* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series explains why humanity wasn't contacted before we opened the [[PortalNetwork Mass Relay]]. In the past explorers opened an inactive relay that led them to encounter the Rachni, this led to a massive BugWar that threatened all life in the Galaxy before the war was won by [[KillEmAll wiping out the rachni]]. As such, in order to prevent a repeat of the Rachni War, the [[FictionalUnitedNations Citadel Council]] made it illegal to open dormant Relays that lead to unknown locations, until extensive research has been done to determine where they go and that there aren't any hostile lifeforms on the other side.[[spoiler: It's later discovered that the reason there are oddly so ''few'' Alien civilisations is because the Reapers harvest all space-faring races every 50,000 years]].

* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series explains why humanity wasn't contacted before we opened the Mass Relay. The Galatic Council bans opening new Relays to unknown locations, after carelessly doing so in the past caused them to encounter the Rachni, leading to a subsequent BugWar that threatened all life in the Galaxy before the Rachni were wiped out. It's later discovered that the reason there are oddly so ''few'' Alien civilisations is [[spoiler:because the Reapers harvest all space-faring races every 50,000 years]].

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'', Earth is located ''in'' the Nemesite Empire, but the Nemesites have designated our world as a nature preserve and have tried to leave us fairly undisturbed, just like animals in a national park. It's recently been revealed that another reason is that [[spoiler:the Nemesites had a very, very [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100518.html messy]] FirstContact with Earth's [[UltraTerrestrials pre-human]] [[DinosaursAreDragons dragon]] civilization, and so they're practicing a loose AlienNonInterferenceClause approach with us.]]

* Religions around the world acknowledge a supernatural side of things, and some of these spiritual beings live among us in this universe and planet. Even many non religious people have claimed to have experienced or at least acknowledged some of these, such as an angelic being or poltergeist.
** This would help account for cases of miracles, where there appears to be literally no other way something could have happened.

* "Literature/TheyreMadeOutOfMeat" by Terry Bisson suggests another possible reason: the aliens found us and were too weirded out to establish contact. Can be read [[http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html here]].

* Addressed in ''Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire'', as seen in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W51H1croBw this excerpt]]. Hodgman's theory is that Enrico Fermi himself was an alien trying to deflect suspicion. Why else would he demand his only reward be [[NoodleImplements two healthy sperm whales]]?

* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series explains why humanity wasn't contacted before we opened the Mass Relay. The Galatic Council bans opening new Relays to unknown locations, after carelessly doing so in the past caused them to encounter the Rachni, leading to a subsequent BugWar that threatened all life in the Galaxy before the Rachni were wiped out. It's later discovered that the reason there are oddly so ''few'' Alien civilisations is [[spoiler: because the Reapers harvest all space-faring races every 50,000 years.]].

# Similar to the former. We cannot recognize their signals-- for example, we might be mistaking them for background noise, and/or they're too faint to be detected by our (current) equipment, they may be employing very hard to detect directional methods such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_communication_in_space lasers]][[note]]more economical in energy terms than broadcasting everywhere[[/note]], or even using a medium we haven't developed yet like [[SubspaceAnsible beaming signals through hyperspace or quantum entanglement or something]].

* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' has no sign of alien civilizations despite there being some pretty hefty evidence that intelligent extraterrestrial life does (or did) exist. ''Dead Space 3'' finally reveals why: [[spoiler:the Brethren Moons, the ultimate form of Necromorph, ate them all. The Marker was also created by them, to ensure that humanity would follow and become their next meal.]]

* Astrophysicist Creator/NeilDeGrasseTyson claims that we do not have enough of a sample size of the universe to say there is no extraterrestrial life; he compares it to going to the beach, scooping some water into a cup, then looking into the cup and saying "there are no whales in the ocean, because there are no whales in here".

* Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson claims that we do not have enough of a sample size of the universe to say there is no extraterrestrial life; he compares it to going to the beach, scooping some water into a cup, then looking into the cup and saying "there are no whales in the ocean, because there are no whales in here".

# All the other aliens are in a pre-sentient, pre-technological, or even [[AliensNeverInventedTheWheel incompatible]] state of development. [[CaptainObvious No Radio Transmitter = No Radio Transmissions]].

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* In the ''Film/MenInBlack'' [[Comicbook/MenInBlack comics]] and [[WesternAnimation/MenInBlack their adaptations]] (and in the TheMenInBlack urban myth that inspired them), the title organization is expressly dedicated to making sure Earth civilians stay unaware of aliens.

[[folder: Mythology and Religion]]

* One of the alternate Earths of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' has Earth being ruled by squirrels. And yes we ''do'' get to see it briefly.

* In the ''ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy'' by Warren Ellis, Reed Richards ponders this very question. The answer seems to be that the sky isn't filled with signals from alien cultures because [[PlanetEater Galactus ate them. It prefers planets inhabited by intelligent life, and consumes them. There are ''some'' intelligent aliens in the Ultimate universe, but far less than anyone would expect, and they're discreet because they don't want to attract Galactus' attention. Earth seems to be the only planet that ever successfully resisted it]].

# All the spacefaring aliens are involved in a cosmic conspiracy to [[{{Masquerade}} remain hidden]] from Earth, possibly because [[TheWorldIsNotReady we aren't judged to be advanced enough to know about them]], or because [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters we absolutely scare the crap out of them for some reason]].

* In the ''ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy'' by Warren Ellis, Reed Richards ponders this very question. The answer seems to be that the sky isn't filled with signals from alien cultures because [[PlanetEater Galactus ate them]].

* In the ''[[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate]] [[Comicbook/FantasticFour Galactus]]'' trilogy by Warren Ellis, Reed Richards ponders this very question. The answer seems to be that the sky isn't filled with signals from alien cultures because [[PlanetEater Galactus ate them]].

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Shadow Proclamation, basically a galactic police force, has rules about how alien life forms are not allowed to make contact or interfere with worlds without a minimum amount of technology -- not that most the aliens seem to care about that, as they really like trying to take over/destroy/control Earth for some reason. It was this rule and groups like UNIT and Torchwood which kept the public from learning about alien existence until around 2008 when [[spoiler:the Daleks invaded and physically teleported the Earth.]]

# Similar to the former. We cannot recognize their signals -for example mistaking them as the equivalent of background noise and/or being too faint to be detected by our (current) equipment, they employing very hard to detect directional methods such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_communication_in_space lasers]][[note]]more economical in energy terms than broadcasting everywhere[[/note]], or even using a medium we haven't developed yet like [[SubspaceAnsible beaming signals through hyperspace or quantum entanglement or something]].-

* In the ''[[UltimateMarvel Ultimate]] [[Comicbook/FantasticFour Galactus]]'' trilogy by Warren Ellis, Reed Richards ponders this very question. The answer seems to be that the sky isn't filled with signals from alien cultures because [[PlanetEater Galactus ate them]].

# Similar to the former. We cannot recognize their signals -for example mistaking them as the equivalent of background noise and/or being too faint to be detected by our (current) equipment, they employing very hard to detect methods such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_communication_in_space lasers]][[note]]more economical in energy terms than broadcasting everywhere[[/note]], or even using a medium we haven't developed yet like [[SubspaceAnsible beaming signals through hyperspace or quantum entanglement or something]].-