Credit: University of Rochester illustration / Michael Osadciw The Problem of Leaving the Nest:Īnother theory that is tentatively raised by Godier, which is based on recent research in the emerging field of astro-virology, is the idea that colonizing new worlds – becoming an interplanetary or interstellar species – comes with some severe existential risk. A technologically advanced population and its planet might develop or collapse together. “ Berserker Probes“, which could also be destroying each other. This could take the form an absolute alien species that emerged first in our galaxy, or the remnants of their technology – i.e. This is a theme that has been explored extensively in science fiction (some example of which are mentioned in the debate). ![]() However, there is also the possibility that advanced intelligent life in our Universe is destroyed by more advanced intelligent life. It’s simply a lot more complicated to have what we have than is previously thought.” Intelligent Life is Destructive:Īs Fraser added, the other option is that the Filter is “in our future, that the thing that stopped all civilizations from exploring the cosmos was something else that happened to them.” A third possible option is the one illustrated by the current climate crisis, where technologically advanced civilizations effectively destroy their planets before they are able to become an interstellar species. ![]() “ actually don’t mind that because it still creates a Universe where it’s teeming with life and intelligence occasionally occurs, it may not interact with each other, and there you have it. This makes sense since, using Earth as an example, the emergence of life happened shortly after the planet formed 4.5 billion years ago – estimates range from 4 to as early as 4.41 billion years ago. There are many versions of this hypothesis that place the filter at varying points in species evolution.įor the sake of simplicity (and remaining within the parameters of the Fermi Paradox) the debate focused on those that would affect civilizations, rather than life itself. Many of these can be summarized as belonging to “ The Great Filter” school of thought – that something is preventing intelligent species from emerging or achieving a level of technical development that would allow them to communicate with other intelligent species. ![]() And while they did not have time to get through them all, they manage to tackle the most salient ones. Getting to the possible resolutions, Godier indicated that there are 75 that he is aware of (seriously!). To begin, they address the assumption that life should be plentiful in our Universe, which comes down to the sheer immensity of it and the length of time itself. Even today, almost 70 years after Fermi posed the question, humanity still has found no credible or verifiable evidence for the existence of an extra-terrestrial civilization. In short, the question refers to the apparent contradiction between the (assumed) high probability of their being intelligent life in our galaxy and the dearth of evidence for their existence. During a lunchtime conversation with his colleagues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory – and on the topic of the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) – Fermi asked his fellow physicists, “Where is Everybody?” To begin, the Fermi Paradox centers on a simple question that was posed by physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950. Here are some salient points that stood out: Where is Everybody? All in all, they offered some serious insight into the Fermi Paradox, its possible resolutions, and the questions that naturally arise from both. In any case, Fraser and Godier had a fruitful debate under Skylias moderation. Their topics of discussion have included everything from black holes and antimatter to the study of astronomy and the nature of the Universe. ![]() The debate was moderated by Skylias, the famed science communicator, computer scientist (and sometimes musician) who has routinely had Fraser on her Youtube show ( Skylias Cares) as a guest speaker.
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