Fermi Paradox
July 19, 2015 at 4:25 pm
(This post was last modified: July 19, 2015 at 4:28 pm by Pyrrho.)
For those who don't know what the Fermi Paradox is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
There is more at the link, so go ahead and click on it and read the article if you want to know more about it.
I will go ahead and express a couple of opinions, which I am sure that the believers in magic will reject offhand.
I am probably going to regret asking, but what are your thoughts on the Fermi paradox?
I decided to add a poll, with the following options:
2 is basically saying that intelligent beings cannot visit us.
3 is basically saying that intelligent beings would not want to visit us.
4 is basically saying that intelligent beings are visiting us.
Please note, 2 and 3 do not necessarily exclude the idea of 1, as it may be that there is no intelligent life to visit us, but it could not visit us even if it existed, etc. But pick the one you believe is most appropriate, or just don't pick any; I don't really care.
Quote:The Fermi paradox (or Fermi's paradox) is the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and humanity's lack of contact with, or evidence for, such civilizations.[1] The basic points of the argument, made by physicists Enrico Fermi and Michael H. Hart, are:According to this line of thinking, the Earth should already have been visited by extraterrestrial aliens. But Fermi saw no convincing evidence of this, nor any signs of alien intelligence anywhere in the observable universe. Hence, Fermi's question, "Where is everybody?"[5]
- The Sun is a typical star. There are billions of stars in the galaxy that are billions of years older.
- With high probability, some of these stars will have Earth-like planets,[2][3] and some might develop intelligent life.
- Some of these civilizations might develop interstellar travel.
- Even at the slow pace of currently envisioned interstellar travel, the Milky Way galaxy could be completely traversed in about a million years.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
There is more at the link, so go ahead and click on it and read the article if you want to know more about it.
I will go ahead and express a couple of opinions, which I am sure that the believers in magic will reject offhand.
I am probably going to regret asking, but what are your thoughts on the Fermi paradox?
I decided to add a poll, with the following options:
- There is (or probably is) no other life in the universe that is advanced.
- Interstellar travel of intelligent beings is (or probably is) impossible.
- Aliens don’t visit us because it is not worthwhile to visit humans.
- Are you crazy? Have you not seen the X-Files? Aliens are visiting us!
2 is basically saying that intelligent beings cannot visit us.
3 is basically saying that intelligent beings would not want to visit us.
4 is basically saying that intelligent beings are visiting us.
Please note, 2 and 3 do not necessarily exclude the idea of 1, as it may be that there is no intelligent life to visit us, but it could not visit us even if it existed, etc. But pick the one you believe is most appropriate, or just don't pick any; I don't really care.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.