There is no Fermi Paradox.
This is a post I've been looking to make for a while but put off for one thing or another. To tell the truth, I believe there would be few who would care to read or at all attempt to comprehend what I am to say. For those few who would choose to do so, this is for you.
There is no "Fermi Paradox", that is to stay that there is no inherent mystery as to the supposed silence of the cosmos. I blame this misconception on popular science dissemination, done more so to accrue a following of wide-eyed fools chasing the dream of alien civilisation. I do not mean to say that the pursuit is in itself a fruitless exercise, after all it addresses a question plaguing humanity for millennia. Who are we and where do we fit into the grand scheme of things?
Nonetheless, I shall have to breakdown some of my concerns with the position of those that propagate the false narrative that there is some, as of yet, eerie silence that needs explanation.
First off, space is big. This comes as no surprise for the territory, it may even be the first thing you learn about space itself. Whatever you have learned cannot put into perspective the sheer scale of our solitude. It would take a staggering level of incredulity to suggest that we are the center of all things, least of all that we have a right to know of things. Radio communications travel at the speed of light this is, as far as we know, the upper maximum of speeds by which information may be transported from one point in space-time to another. In order for a hypothetical alien civilisation to intercept our radio communications, decipher and translate them, would require their "capture" device to be turned within a specific band of space for a specific period of time. It does not take a mathematician to understand that mere deviations of seconds may throw the positioning off by miles. As humans, we have only been screaming into the darkness for little over a century, considering the data we have on the necessary conditions for the existence of life (of which we have a sample size of 1), we can roughly ascertain the closest habitable planets to us currently. This hypothetical closest planet may be 600 light years away essentially meaning that it would take a roundtrip of 1200 years and the serendipitous detection of our radio communications to initiate first contact with this extraterrestrial species.
It seems ridiculous, then, to conclude that we ought to have heard from extraterrestrial species by now. Great stomping and sulking ensues from people who only wish for the initiation of contact, without at first considering its consequences.
Hey guys, if you want me to continue writing this piece, let me know what you think of it below. I have quite a bit more to say but not sure if it is worth saying lol
There is no "Fermi Paradox", that is to stay that there is no inherent mystery as to the supposed silence of the cosmos. I blame this misconception on popular science dissemination, done more so to accrue a following of wide-eyed fools chasing the dream of alien civilisation. I do not mean to say that the pursuit is in itself a fruitless exercise, after all it addresses a question plaguing humanity for millennia. Who are we and where do we fit into the grand scheme of things?
Nonetheless, I shall have to breakdown some of my concerns with the position of those that propagate the false narrative that there is some, as of yet, eerie silence that needs explanation.
First off, space is big. This comes as no surprise for the territory, it may even be the first thing you learn about space itself. Whatever you have learned cannot put into perspective the sheer scale of our solitude. It would take a staggering level of incredulity to suggest that we are the center of all things, least of all that we have a right to know of things. Radio communications travel at the speed of light this is, as far as we know, the upper maximum of speeds by which information may be transported from one point in space-time to another. In order for a hypothetical alien civilisation to intercept our radio communications, decipher and translate them, would require their "capture" device to be turned within a specific band of space for a specific period of time. It does not take a mathematician to understand that mere deviations of seconds may throw the positioning off by miles. As humans, we have only been screaming into the darkness for little over a century, considering the data we have on the necessary conditions for the existence of life (of which we have a sample size of 1), we can roughly ascertain the closest habitable planets to us currently. This hypothetical closest planet may be 600 light years away essentially meaning that it would take a roundtrip of 1200 years and the serendipitous detection of our radio communications to initiate first contact with this extraterrestrial species.
It seems ridiculous, then, to conclude that we ought to have heard from extraterrestrial species by now. Great stomping and sulking ensues from people who only wish for the initiation of contact, without at first considering its consequences.
Hey guys, if you want me to continue writing this piece, let me know what you think of it below. I have quite a bit more to say but not sure if it is worth saying lol
(edited 7 months ago)
I agree, I always thought it was nonsense that that somehow is “evidence” that alien life may not exist. I just think that considering how inconceivably large the universe is that there are almost certainly hundreds of thousands if not millions of intelligent civilisations out there. Have you heard of the Wow! signal?? Worth looking into if not. In any case, the Fermi paradox also supposes that an alien civilisation would want to make contact with us if it knew of our existence but there is no reason to assume this. We might appear so primitive to other civilisations that they might not want to touch us with a barge pole and are just happy to sit back and observe, maybe the antics we get up to are used as lessons for them in how not to be a cohesive civilisation looool.
(edited 7 months ago)
Original post by Sorcerer of Old
I agree, I always thought it was nonsense that that somehow is “evidence” that alien life may not exist. Have you heard of the WOW signal?? Worth looking into if not. In any case, the Fermi paradox also supposes that an alien civilisation would want to make contact with us if it knew of our existence but there is no reason to assume this. We might appear so primitive to other civilisations that they might not want to touch us with a barge pole and are just happy to sit back and observe, maybe the antics we get up to are used as lessons for them in how not to be a cohesive civilisation looool.
Yeah, this is a stance to go for but I believe there are serious concerns for the stability of complex sociopolitical structures anyway. I wanted to go into quite a lot of things in this post but idk.
Also, I have heard of the "WOW" signal, it's an unexplained radio pulse before total silence. Very cool, very creepy.
Agreed. The Fermi Paradox has always struck me as something that is fueled by science fiction rather than facts. You get all sorts of wild explanations, such as 'Aliens don't want to contact us because we are primative and it would be like playing God' or 'Aliens have already contacted the government but they are kept a secret to the public'.
The simplest explanation is that aliens just don't exist, or that aliens are so few and far between that the chances of us ever making contact are next to none. Faster than light travel may also be completely impossible, yet we all expect that it will exist in the future just because we see people do it on Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr Who, etc. 😂
The simplest explanation is that aliens just don't exist, or that aliens are so few and far between that the chances of us ever making contact are next to none. Faster than light travel may also be completely impossible, yet we all expect that it will exist in the future just because we see people do it on Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr Who, etc. 😂
Original post by quagmiretoilet
There is no "Fermi Paradox"
There is no "Fermi Paradox"
There is no 'god'.
Original post by SHallowvale
Agreed. The Fermi Paradox has always struck me as something that is fueled by science fiction rather than facts. You get all sorts of wild explanations, such as 'Aliens don't want to contact us because we are primative and it would be like playing God' or 'Aliens have already contacted the government but they are kept a secret to the public'.
The simplest explanation is that aliens just don't exist, or that aliens are so few and far between that the chances of us ever making contact are next to none. Faster than light travel may also be completely impossible, yet we all expect that it will exist in the future just because we see people do it on Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr Who, etc. 😂
The simplest explanation is that aliens just don't exist, or that aliens are so few and far between that the chances of us ever making contact are next to none. Faster than light travel may also be completely impossible, yet we all expect that it will exist in the future just because we see people do it on Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr Who, etc. 😂
Yes, I agree with your statement, people reach all sorts of wild explanations upon the assumption that somehow we've exhausted all scientific inquiry upon the matter. The reality is that we still do not have a definitive conclusion as to if life exists within our solar system let alone in extra-solar systems. What people fail to realise is that we are utterly clueless when it comes to the matter of exoplanet analysis, until recently we had no real idea of the conditions on Venus, our closest neighbour, which substantiates the idea that we don't possess the means of working out if life may exist elsewhere. Thus, the notion of the "great silence" is totally absurd.
Original post by Quady
There is no 'god'.
Would you be so kind as to elaborate?
Original post by quagmiretoilet
Would you be so kind as to elaborate?
Sure thing.
You've created a thread to state a case that is very obvious.
My point was to give another example of something very obvious.
Original post by Quady
Sure thing.
You've created a thread to state a case that is very obvious.
My point was to give another example of something very obvious.
You've created a thread to state a case that is very obvious.
My point was to give another example of something very obvious.
It depends on how you define God, besides, I don't believe it is a fact. This is in the same way as "All bachelors are unmarried" is an a priori fact.
Original post by quagmiretoilet
It depends on how you define God, besides, I don't believe it is a fact. This is in the same way as "All bachelors are unmarried" is an a priori fact.
It also depends how you define the Fermi Paradox. You did so by saying 'there is no inherent mystery as to the supposed silence of the cosmos'.
That is clearly bunkum, all you need to do is look at the night sky and you'll see the communication of the cosmos.
Original post by Quady
It also depends how you define the Fermi Paradox. You did so by saying 'there is no inherent mystery as to the supposed silence of the cosmos'.
That is clearly bunkum, all you need to do is look at the night sky and you'll see the communication of the cosmos.
That is clearly bunkum, all you need to do is look at the night sky and you'll see the communication of the cosmos.
The Fermi Paradox is clearly defined, the "silence" refers to the non-perceived communication of hypothetical extraterrestrial civilisations.
Also, nice word "bunkum" lol, going to add that to the list.
Original post by quagmiretoilet
The Fermi Paradox is clearly defined, the "silence" refers to the non-perceived communication of hypothetical extraterrestrial civilisations.
Also, nice word "bunkum" lol, going to add that to the list.
Also, nice word "bunkum" lol, going to add that to the list.
Why don't you perceive it? Surely you can see it with your eyes.
Original post by quagmiretoilet
Would you be so kind as to elaborate?
I wouldn't bother, said user likes to argue for the hell of it and more often than not comes across as a troll.
Original post by SHallowvale
I wouldn't bother, said user likes to argue for the hell of it and more often than not comes across as a troll.
lol, I gathered that much so decided not to reply further, thanks for corroborating that tho
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