What is your solution to or thoughts on the Fermi paradox?

The size of the universe combined with the age of the universe makes the probability ridiculous.

Consider that humans have only had written communication (And by that I mean the ability to convey specific thoughts with writing – not cave drawings that tell a vague story) since the 7th millennium BCE – so less than 10,000 years.

And we’ve only been using radio waves for less than a hundred years. Presuming that the very first radio signal ever used by “Terrans” (1 August 1920) was picked up by an extraterrestrial, and if it were immediately answered, in order for us to have gotten the return message today, the planet could be no further than 46.5 light years away.

There are approximately 2000 stars within 50 light years of Earth. An infinitesimal portion of the stars in the universe.

And considering that one of those planets would not only have to have evolved intelligent life, but that such life would have to be capable of communicating via radio wave at exactly the time that our message reached them, and not 2 billion years ago or ten thousand years ago… it is just so unlikely.

But, on the other hand, the fact that there is evidence of microbial life on Mars as well as on meteoroids that have fallen to Earth gives enough credence to the hypothesis of extraterrestrial life that it makes sense to believe that there may be advanced intelligent life out there somewhere, somewhen.

I’ve read that before. My view is that the universe is essentially limitless, and we are in only a small corner of a tiny section of a pinhole of a nebula way off in the suburbs.

I’m not willing to agree that all life forms are “beneath” us evolutionarily – I think that there are many far more advanced. It’s more likely that we do not recognize them as such.

But my gut feel is that they haven’t explored this section of the universe yet,

@Seek_Kolinahr I’m intrigued by your use of the word ridiculous in your first sentence. It doesn’t quite seem to fit. Improbable seems more likely than ridiculous. I understand the rest of what you’ve stated. The probablity that the technologies would have to coincide are exponentially great.

1. severely limited observational ability on the side of humans.
– Until recently humans had trouble to find exo-planets that were not gas giants.
– Humans have only observed a tiny bubble of space around their own solar system.
– Humans are so far unable to determine surface characteristics of exo-planets beyond general geological composition

2. Distance would make alien radio signals indistinguishable from background noise.
– Radio-Signals become weaker with distance (inverse square of distance)
– Radio-signals get polluted with the universe’s background noise.
– Because of distance, the signals might not even have arrived at earth, yet.

3. Alien civilisations’ time frames might not overlap and could be far apart. Basically, a civilisation might arise only long after all others are long extinct, and the last of the signals that might have been strong enough to be recognised as such, have passed earth long before humans existed.

4. Assumptions about alien technology and behaviour.
– aliens might not use radio technology for communication, because of the signal deterioration and the distances involved. Radio signals basically expand in a spherical fashion, which is an incredible waste of energy.
– They might use incredibly focused beams that would never intersect with your planet.
– They might disguise their signals as background noise for security reasons.
– They might use artificial micro wormholes and send their signals through these wormholes for instant interstellar communication, and with certainty, that no one between the origin and destination could intercept the transmission.

5. avoidance of direct contact and intentional concealment of presence, due to probable internal rules of noninterference, to avoid military conflict based on humanity’s savagery coupled with nuclear weapons capability, or to maximise military advantage in a planned surprise attack on Earth.

@elbanditoroso I like the idea of us in the suburbs, and you may be right. We simply may have been overlooked so far.

@ragingloli In my four years on this site, that may be the most developed post I’ve ever seen from you. Thank you.

As The Good Book‘s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy says, space is really, really big.
I have no doubt that there is intelligent life out there, but we are too far away for it to matter at this point.

Yeah, I’m kind of fond of “ridiculous” as an inappropriate synonym for “extreme in the negative”. There are better words I could have used. It’s a crutch, really.

and 6:
humans are disregarding available data that might be actual indications for an alien presence, see UFO sightings, visual recordings and abduction stories.

Then there is the possibility that advanced civilizations adhere to a hands off no interference policy toward “primitive” people, and are deliberately avoiding us. Perhaps we’re being watched and intensely studied. I can imagine alien graduate students compiling documentaries on the “peculiar” folks here. It would certainly make sense that an advanced group of civilizations might find it prudent to avoid backward races with belligerent tendencies. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if the decision has been reached that we should be isolated from “advanced” technology or any evidence of those possessing it. I know that even a superficial examination of the history of our species would more than justify quarantine from “proper” folks.

@stanleybmanly – Maybe.

But if we accept the paradigm that there are a limitless number of civilizations in the limitless universe, why would we then think that they would all think the same way? (i.e. keeping hands off the primitives).

If the concept is limitless, then I would think that it’s also possible (likely) that these zillions of civilizations would be heterogeneous in their actions towards other planets, like Earth. Some might have the policy of “hands off”, but others might have a policy of aggression, or subterfuge, or something more malevolent.

I’m not sure I would depend on the “kindness of strangers” from other planets for my safety and security. Besides, that’s rather insulting to to all earthlings. “You’re not important enough to even attack.”

“Besides, that’s rather insulting to to all earthlings. “You’re not important enough to even attack.”
It is just insulting because of humanity’s overblown ego.

@elbanditoroso
Perhaps for a civilization to survive to the point of interstellar travel, it would need to curb then master its more primitive tendencies. This is certainly the critical problem for our own civilization. But even in the event that primitives should stumble into interstellar space, and folks in various stages of development are whizzing about, isn’t there a good chance that it would fall on the most advanced (and presumably the wisest ) of the bunch to “police” the place and obstruct the suicidal impulses of the juveniles.

There isn’t enough data to calculate the probabilities. What are the odds of life or intelligent life arising on earth. We don’t know. How many planets does the universe contain that might sustain life. Again we don’t know.

There could easily be a thousand or a million or a billion worlds out there with intelligent life on them but we would never know. It is impossible, and even theoretically impossible to contact most of them or for them to contact us due to the vast distances and the constraints of the speed of light.

It is also quite possible that we are entirely alone in the Universe.

Advanced civilizations do not live long enough to overlap. By the time technology reaches a certain point, any highly progressive species is doomed to become extinct in a short period of time. It turns technology against itself. In my opinion, the average life spans for such developed societies are just 300 to 400 years, maybe even less. If advanced civilizations existed for millions of years, we’d have enough overlap to detect their signals. The only other explanation is that the species don’t want us to know about them.