Fermi vs. Fhtagn

There are things, Lovecraft hypothesizes, that Man is not meant to know. This paper is touching on these subjects: That is not dead which can eternal lie: the aestivation hypothesis for resolving Fermi’s paradox.

If a civilization wants to maximize computation it appears rational to aestivate until the far future in order to exploit the low temperature environment: this can produce a 10^30 multiplier of achievable computation. We hence suggest the “aestivation hypothesis”: the reason we are not observing manifestations of alien civilizations is that they are currently (mostly) inactive, patiently waiting for future cosmic eras. This paper analyzes the assumptions going into the hypothesis and how physical law and observational evidence constrain the motivations of aliens compatible with the hypothesis.

So the Great Old starfaring civilizations exist, the paper suggests, but they are sleeping, waiting until the stars are, literally, right. So much of Lovecraft is about astronomy and cosmology, and it did not stop with his death, if he actually died.