So far, scientists have discovered several thousand planets orbiting other stars, and based on these observations, they have determined that there could be 8.8 billion potentially habitable Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way alone. And if you include stars that are smaller than the Sun, then this number rises to 40 billion. Think about it: 40 billion potentially habitable Earth-like planets.
Some take these observations as an indicator that we might not be the only technologically advanced civilization, while others ask the first why we did not come into contact with anyone then. This is the Fermi paradox: the galaxy should be teeming with evidence of the existence of intelligent civilizations, and we are all waiting for them to call or not.
When I think of the Fermi Paradox, I sometimes think of a scene from Fight Club where Tyler Durden says, “You're not special. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else."
Looking up at the sky, I cannot believe that we are alone in the galaxy. There must be someone else.
During Singularity University's Global Summit discussion on space exploration, SETI Institute's Jill Tarter tried to explain the Fermi Paradox in an interesting way:
“The Fermi paradox can be summarized as follows: if at one time, in any place and at any time, there was another technological civilization besides ours, then in the shortest possible time it would obviously develop the ability to travel between stars and, obviously, would colonize the galaxy.
No matter how quickly the space exploration by the forces of this civilization progressed, the time to colonize the galaxy would be incredibly short. But we don't see them. Consequently, there was no technology anywhere before us. We are first.
This whole logical structure is built on the assumption that they are not here. But I don't think we can say that. I don’t think that we have even explored our own backyard - the solar system - well enough to rule out the possibility of the existence of alien technology.
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We can find a kilometer-long stone. But smaller things are harder to find.
No, I do not believe they are kidnapping aunts on the streets of New York for mysterious medical experiments. There is no confirmation of this. But we really didn't look for them either physically or at the signal level. We have barely started the SETI initiatives.
All that we could do in 50 years is numerically equivalent to pulling a thimble of water out of the world's oceans, looking at it and saying, “Well, there’s no fish here; apparently, it is not found in the oceans. " That's where we are."
Also participating in the discussion was Alex Filippenko, a renowned professor of astronomy and physical sciences at the University of California at Berkeley, and this is what he thinks about the Fermi paradox:
“My own point of view is quite pessimistic, in fact, if we talk about mechanically advanced, intelligent civilizations that are able to communicate and even more so to travel and colonize the galaxy.
I think that we are not alone, but we can be alone in our Milky Way, or be one of the few. And if there were others in the past, perhaps the intelligence and mechanical abilities of our level always come (or almost always come) with a self-destructive tendency that we definitely have as a species of Homo sapiens.
If so, then intelligent, mechanically advanced civilizations could be Chinese lanterns in the night sky of our galaxy. They just go out before they can get out and colonize the galaxy."
So Tarter questions the central assumption of the Fermi paradox: no one is here. We were just looking badly. Filippenko believes that we can find an explanation simply by looking at our own behavioral tendencies right here on our home planet. (And of course there are many other hypotheses that could answer this paradox - see here).
We are currently exploring the solar system with robotic probes and rovers and hope to send humans in the future. At the same time, powerful technologies are being developed on Earth that can be useful, dangerous, or both at the same time. Tarter believes that "exponential technologies promise to take us much further and much faster" and is excited about these opportunities. But if Filippenko's position on the Fermi paradox is correct, it means that we are another technological civilization that threatens to destroy itself. Can we get off this planet before our Chinese lantern goes out in the galactic sky?
ILYA KHEL