Fermi Paradox

Alone in the Universe Are we alone in this universe? This is a question that humanity has been pondering since its conception. It seems logical that if the universe is so large there would have to be other intelligent creatures out there somewhere, but why has there been no evidence of their existence? This is exactly the question that the famous Italian physicist Enriko Fermi poses in his so-called Fermi Paradox. With recent technological advances the human race is getting closer to truly understanding the magnitude of that captivating question. Throughout history there have been many attempts to explain this conundrum but as more is learned about the universe it has become clear that it is a very premature assumption to conclude that humanity

The advanced radio technology that is required to detect extraterrestrial signals from space has only been around for about fifty years, nowhere near long enough to pick up a signal from across the galaxy (Landis). New planets outside of our solar system, called exoplanets, are being discovered on a weekly basis. Some of these planets are located in the “goldilocks” zone of their parent star where it is not too hot for water to boil and not too cold for water to freeze, perfect conditions for supporting life and exactly where Earth is located (Gammon). If even one of these planets were to develop intelligent life, it should eventually, like life on Earth, develop radio technology. One star system in particular called Gliese 581 has been getting a lot of attention because this star has multiple earth-like planets in its habitable zone. This star is about twenty-two light years away; a relatively short distance on the cosmic scale, and on August 28, 2009, a message from Earth was sent to the foreign worlds (Dinham). Because of the vast distance, the message will not arrive at its destination until around December of 2029. If there is intelligent life with radio technology that receives the message and a

It is thought that if evolution is left alone and is able to naturally change over time, intelligent, self-aware life forms will eventually be born. The most interesting solution to the Fermi Paradox is that any intelligent life will eventually destroy itself, as explained by Cirkovic in his “nuclear self-destruction hypothesis”. Humanity has only been around for about two hundred thousand years and we have already had two world wars and almost a full-scale nuclear holocaust in 1962. What if, contrary to evolution, intelligence is a fatal mutation and any species that evolves to become intelligent will eventually destroy itself before it can communicate its existence in the universe (Cirkovic)? Again, for this to be plausible Earth would have to be the exception because we have not destroyed ourselves yet and our existence has already been communicated to other nearby star systems. Even if most intelligent civilizations do end up self-destructing, there are too many galaxies with too many stars with too many planets for this to be the fate of every single