The Fermi Paradox was first devised by world-renowned physicist Enrico Fermi, in the 1950s. It was a response to the Drake equation, which tried to quantify the possible number of advanced civilizations present in the galaxy. Using conservative estimates, the number of advanced civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy was predicted to be between 1000 and 100,000. However, considering such a large number of advanced civilizations, we should have been able to make contact with at least one advanced civilization. But it hasn’t happened yet. The Fermi paradox arises from this conundrum.
People have been wondering whether there is life on other worlds for some time now. After the adoption of the heliocentric model and advancement of telescopic technology, people began to realise that there are many worlds in the Universe, something which was seen as ludicrous in the geocentric era. When looking at Mars through a telescope in the 19thcentury, astronomers found lines on the surface of Mars, which they thought indicated intelligent life. As a result, many science fiction authors of the time wrote science fiction novels (a classic example is H.G Wells’ War of the Worlds) depicting aliens from other planets. We later found out that these lines were caused by dust-storms on a planetary scale.
In the latter part of the 19th Century, radio waves were discovered. After the war, by bouncing radio waves off the surface of the moon, it was discovered that radio waves could penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere (it was called Project Diana). Since then, radio waves have been used to communicate with satellites and distant probes. Moreover, radio waves can propagate through the vacuum of space, virtually uninterrupted. So, radio waves could be used to transmit information over very very long distances (hundreds of light years). So, it was thought that intelligent civilizations on other planets would be transmitting information in the form of radio waves. Thus, the SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) was formed with the objective of listening for these radio wave. Barring a few exciting moments, such as the Wow! Signal on August 15, 1977 (I suggest further reading), there haven’t been many noteworthy outcomes of SETI (so far).
So, this is where the Fermi Paradox comes into play. The Drake equation suggested that there were a lot of intelligent civilizations scattered around in our galaxy. However, observations have not been able to confirm the existence of even a primitive form of extra-terrestrial life, let alone intelligent extra-terrestrial life! Consequently, there must be a reason why we haven’t encountered the aliens yet, and these are called the solutions of the Fermi paradox. Some say that we haven’t encountered the aliens yet, simply because sending out signals about ones existence into outer space is not a good idea. How? Well, simply put, the signals might attract superior aliens who want to destroy the budding civilization! Another idea is the fact that we have had radio capability only for about 70 years. Thus, we might have not been searching for long enough to find the aliens. Also the possibility that we might have been looking at the wrong places at the wrong times cannot be summarily dismissed. The most ominous thought, however, is that the aliens are long dead, or they might not have evolved yet.
How can aliens be long dead? Well, the universe is pretty old (about 13.6 billion years in fact!). Considering the fact that the Earth was formed only about 4.5 billion years, it is extremely plausible that the aliens might already be extinct. This claim is further strengthened by the fact that we do not know how long a “typical” intelligent civilization lasts. Human civilization in the contemporary form is arguably only about 50 years old! And yet, we are very close to destroying our civilization ourselves. The threat of a nuclear war is looming large and global warming is progressively getting worse. Thus, we are not able to accurately predict the duration of the human civilization. Consequently, we cannot predict the duration of other “intelligent civilizations”.
Hopefully, in the coming years, this problem will finally be solved and we will be able to answer some of the most important questions that constantly plague the minds of human beings: Are we alone? If not, where are the aliens? If yes, why are we so special? Until the day we have conclusive evidence, answers to these questions are purely speculative.
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