The Fermi Paradox | Tech News

If there is in fact intelligent extraterrestrial life in what we (human beings) consider the observable universe then we must acknowledge the apparent contradiction between lack of evidence and high probability estimates for the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations; this means that we should have established contact if there is intelligent extraterrestrial life because of probability.

It is highly likely that somewhere in the observable universe there are extraterrestrial civilizations, and it would contradict all of the scientific and mathematical research if there isn’t, hence why it is considered a paradox. This is call the Fermi Paradox. The Fermi Paradox is named after physicist Enrico Fermi.

To be more specific, a paradox is a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.

Now most physicists around the world are perplexed by the Fermi paradox. Robert H. Gray, a scientific journalist, opposes this theory. According to him, the Drake equation; an equation which estimates the number of civilizations in our Galaxy whose signals we might be able to detect—potentially thousands, according to plausible estimates, is a logically and scientifically valid equation but the Fermi Paradox is not, nor is the Fermi Paradox a genuine paradox. Gray believes this, and is not alone in doing so, because it was cited by Sen. William Proxmire as a reason for killing NASA’s SETI program in 1981; the program was restarted at the urging of Carl Sagan, but was killed dead in 1993 by Senator Richard Bryan. Ever since then the government has not majorly funded any searches in the United States for intelligent extraterrestrial life; even though thousands of new planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than our sun.

Consequently, scientists in and out of the SETI community have conjured up other arguments to deal with the conflict between the idea that aliens should be everywhere and our failure (at the moment) to find them (intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations.)

I personally agree with the Fermi Paradox, as recent scientific research has found that probability overrules previous scientific evidence.

The universe is inconceivably vast and we are not able to observe it entirely. What we do observe physicists call the observable universe, which is a spherical region of the Universe comprising all matter that may be observed from Earth at the present time. This is because light and other signals from these objects have had time to reach Earth since the beginning of the cosmological expansion. Scientifically and mathematically speaking, the observable universe is a sphere with a diameter of approximately 28.5 gigaparsecs.

Why do you think human beings have yet to make contact? Post your comments below!