Conversation

Notices

1. Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 03-Dec-2023 08:49:12 UTC Prof. Sam Lawler

   Today I'm talking about the Fermi Paradox in my astro-for-physics-majors class (and I'll talk about it again on Friday in my astro 101 class).

   It's a really simple question with completely terrifying/mind-blowing implications, first asked by Enrico Fermi (who, ironically, was one of the Manhattan project scientists...)

   Our universe is 13.8 billion years old, our Galaxy is at least 10 billion years old, other planets are surely much older than Earth, with more time to involve intelligent life.

   • Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 03-Dec-2023 08:49:10 UTC Prof. Sam Lawler

     in reply to

     A few possibilities for how to resolve the paradox. I'm going to list them all and put a poll at the end of this thread so you can vote for your favourite!

     1. We are alone. We are the first intelligent life that has ever evolved in the Universe.

     (Generally in astronomy any explanation that requires us to be special is a bad one. Then again, we are here asking this question, which is kind of the mother of all observation biases)

     Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 likes this.
   • Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 03-Dec-2023 08:49:11 UTC Prof. Sam Lawler

     in reply to

     "So where is everybody?"

   • Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Dec-2023 06:17:47 UTC Prof. Sam Lawler

     in reply to

     3. A galactic civilization exists! But they are avoiding us, either because we're morally reprehensible, or because we're in a kind of "wildlife preserve" (though I find these ideas pretty weirdly human-centric...)

   • Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Monday, 04-Dec-2023 06:17:47 UTC Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅

     in reply to
     @sundogplanets If the galactic civilization has classified us as "Civilization type 57(b). Avoid. Check back in 1000 years for renewed decision on contact, avoidance or intervention." I don't see what's particularly anthropocentric about that. We wouldn't have to be uniquely awful.
   • Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Dec-2023 06:17:48 UTC Prof. Sam Lawler

     in reply to

     2.b The absolutely most depressing option: there are other civilizations, but technologically advanced civilizations just don't last very long, so the chances that we'd overlap with another civilization nearby and notice their presence is super unlikely.

   • Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Dec-2023 06:17:49 UTC Prof. Sam Lawler

     in reply to

     2. There are other civilizations out there, but they don't travel. This could be because it's just too hard (our furthest probe has traveled something like 0.004% of the distance to the closest star). Or maybe the drive to explore/colonize is a human trait and other intelligent life wouldn't have that drive.

   • Prof. Sam Lawler (sundogplanets@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Dec-2023 06:17:55 UTC Prof. Sam Lawler

     in reply to

     4. The only civilizations that survive long-term are the ones that realize that exponential growth is unsustainable, and completely reorient to a lower-energy state. This would make them undetectable to us.

     (I talked about this idea, called "Homeostatic awakening," a few days ago, with lots of interesting comments: https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/111478947136600731)

     Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 likes this.