History Main / AbsentAliens

* Is free of the UnfortunateImplications that cultures that spent time building monuments and functioning societies [[AncientAstronauts lacked the intelligence to do things like that on their own]], or that "low-tech" is synonymous with "backwards".

Some science fiction authors have adopted MundaneDogmatic, the Mundane Science Fiction Manifesto, a system of self-imposed restraints devised in 2004 (with author Geoff Ryman as the sole named contributor) which is similar in spirit to the constraints of {{UsefulNotes/Dogme95}} in film. Such settings are usually hard science fiction and have no aliens, no FTL travel, and no telekinesis (among other rules).

** While there have been two crossover movies with the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' franchise, Creator/RidleyScott considers them non-canon and deliberately contradicted them when writing the backstory for ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''.

** The Colonial Marines in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' mention dealing with "Arcturians" but Creator/James Cameron refused to give much information about what they are.
** While there have been two crossover movies with the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' franchise, Ridley Scott considers them non-canon and deliberately contradicted them when writing the backstory for ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/BattleTech'': The animated series has alien life but no intelligent nonhuman beings. See the TabletopGame entry for more details.

* The ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' Universe is renowned for its lack of intelligent aliens. The lack of aliens allows its BlackAndGrayMorality of interstellar politics between human groups to thrive. There ''are'' primitive aliens, but they were discovered in a unknown system by a [[BlindJump JumpShip misjump]] (read: they'll never interact with the rest of the universe), and they only appear in one novel, ''Far Country''.

* ''Series/{{Killjoys}}'' only has humans but it's set in a ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway setting where Earth isn't mentioned. So it's not clear if the characters are all HumanAliens or descended from us.

* Inverted in [[Toys/BIONICLE]], in which humans are completely absent.

* Inverted in Toys/BIONICLE, in which humans are completely absent.

* ''Film/AdAstra'' deals with a project dedicated to searching for alien life. [[spoiler:It fails.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}'', the only life in the galaxy came from Earth. Planets with thriving biomes and even highly developed empires got that way because humans terraformed and colonized them, and then they lost track of each other over the millenia, thanks to societal collapse and the absence of faster-than-light travel or communication.

** While there have been two crossover movies with the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' franchise, Ridley Scott considers them non-canon and deliberately contradicted them when writing the backstory for ''Film/Prometheus''.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise, there were aliens that existed long ago (like the [[AbusivePrecursors Engineers]]) but it is unclear if humans have encountered other intelligent species. Some background dialogue between the Marines in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' implies trade relations between humanity and another species, but this may easily be a case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness or the characters joking around.

Some science fiction authors have adopted MundaneDogmatic, the the Mundane Science Fiction Manifesto, a system of self-imposed restraints devised in 2004 (with author Geoff Ryman as the sole named contributor) which is similar in spirit to the constraints of {{UsefulNotes/Dogme95}} in film. Such settings are usually hard science fiction and have no aliens, no FTL travel, and no telekinesis (among other rules).

* ''Webcomic/PicturesForSadChildren'': The comic does this while [[http://archive.picturesforsadchildren.com/246/ lampooning Star Trek]]: the captain's greatest feat was discovering alien ''algae'' 40 years prior.

* ''Film/AdAstra'': Deals with a project dedicated to searching for alien life. [[spoiler: It fails.]]

* ''Film/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'': The SpaceshipGirl specifically mentions that humans haven't made contact with any alien civilizations. The monster turns out to be the devil himself instead.
* ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'', what was thought to be very advanced aliens are in fact [[spoiler:evolved humans from the far future.]]
* The novelization to ''Film/TheBlackHole'' confirms that none of the missions to find alien life have been successful, though they're optimistic because only a tiny percentage of the galaxy has been explored.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise, there were aliens that existed long ago (like the [[AbusivePrecursors Engineers]]) but it is unclear if humans have encountered other intelligent species. Some background dialogue between the Marines in Film/{{Aliens}} implies trade relations between humanity and another species, but this may easily be a case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness or the characters joking around.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov: {{Enforced}} because Creator/JohnWCampbell (editor of ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction'') insisted that [[HumanityIsSuperior humans always triumph against aliens]], Dr. Asimov tended to avoid the presence of alien civilizations in works which would otherwise expect to encounter them. The following examples include stories where Dr. Asimov gave a reason for the absence of aliens.

* Possibly averted by the "Wow! Signal". On August 15, 1977 the Big Ear radio telescope detected a signal coming from near Sagittarius and possibly of alien origin, as it didn't match any known naturally occurring radio frequency. It is generally considered the strongest evidence in support of extraterrestrial intelligence. Unfortunately, this is still inconclusive as we have never received another signal like it. [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale Considering how big space actually is, this may not be unusual though, as we only got the signal about 40 years ago and 40 light years isn't very far in the grand scheme of things.]]

-->'''Inara''': Do aliens live among us?\\
'''Kaylee''': Yep. One of them's a doctor.
* In ''Series/FrankHerbertsDune'' and ''Series/ChildrenOfDune'', there are no sentient alien life forms in their galactic feudal system.

* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', there is no alien life whatsoever, not even so much as a microbe. This is ostensibly because other humans make more interesting foils for humans. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when a "genuine alien" at a sideshow in one episode turns out to be a mutant cow fetus in a jar, with some creepy lighting thrown in for good measure. WordOfGod confirms the nonexistence of aliens in this particular [[TheVerse universe]], which is also set in a single star system.

* ''Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep'' (and perforce ''Film/BladeRunner'') has no aliens, just humanity dealing with the RidiculouslyHumanRobots they manufactured.

As evident by the UsefulNotes/FermiParadox, this trope appears to be TruthInTelevision. This is one of two standard solutions to the Fermi Paradox; the other is InvisibleAliens, in which aliens exist but are being hidden or removed by AppliedPhlebotinum.