Reality operates on the principle of binary existence: life either is or isn't. The universe does not accommodate multiple simultaneous realities of consciousness—only one can hold the position of "life that exists for all perceived time." Life is an evolutionary timeline leading to intelligence understanding the concept of quantum information.
Right now Earth is the life that exists for all perceived time.
The Fermi Paradox is evidence that no more than one evolutionary timeline can exist. This, perhaps thankfully, implies that the great filter does not exist. We search for other life because we intuitively understand that if it existed, we wouldn't.
When our planetary consciousness ends, the mathematical framework that supported the possibility of "other life" dissolves. The universe becomes a closed system—not because it runs out of energy, but because the binary switch of existence flips to false. The stars don't fade; they are simply never perceived again.
But you may ask, "why can't another evolutionary timeline start after ours?" Because without intelligence perceiving reality, time does not exist.
You are now aware that you exist in the universe where this binary resolved to trueThe fact that existence is non-zero (we exist rather than not existing) proves entropy must be a fundamental force. The binary "flipping" from potential to actual reality is itself an entropic process—entropy's signature that differentiates existence from non-existence and creates the arrow of time that makes consciousness possible.. The weight of all possible realities rests on ensuring it doesn't flip to false.