Fermi Paradox

What is the Fermi Paradox?

The Fermi Paradox essentially tells us that there is a contradiction between the high probability of extraterrestrial life considering how vast the universe is, and the lack of evidence for them. Just think about how massive the universe is, and how much time has happened since the Big Bang…

Doesn’t it seem strange that we seem to be the only ones out there? Our solar system is relatively young (4.5 billion years old) compared to the universe (13.8 billion years), a lot of people believe that Earth should have been visited by aliens by now, and as far as we know that’s not the case.

Exploring Possible Explanations

Some possible explanations might be the following:

1. Physical Limitations: Space travel may be impossible due to astronomical, biological, or engineering challenges. For example, the closest star to us (apart from the sun) is Proxima Centauri, and it is 4.3 light-years away from us. Remember that a light-year is the distance that light travels during an entire year, and light travels at the fastest possible speed… So aliens might simply be way to far away.

2. Choice: Aliens may simply choose not to visit Earth. We might be insignificant to them, just like we don’t pay too much attention to some ants walking around. They might also decide to not interfere with us for other reasons.

3. Timing: Advanced civilizations may have developed too recently to reach us.

4. Unseen Visits: It's possible aliens have visited but remain undetected.

Drake Equation

The number of detectable civilizations in the Milky Way can be estimated using the Drake Equation:

• N = R* • fp • ne • fl • fi • fc • L
  Each variable represents a different factor influencing the likelihood of extraterrestrial life.

we will go more in-depth on this on another quest! (subscribe!)

Speculation

Despite uncertainties in the variables, the Fermi Paradox still has a lot of scientific speculation and debate. There are a lot of theories that have been proposed, but ultimately we still have no idea where aliens might be if they exist. Although it does seem very unlikely for there to not be any aliens out there…