If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

[greyl]

If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... WHERE IS EVERYBODY?: Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life

by Stephen Webb



In a 1950 conversation at Los Alamos, four world-class scientists generally agreed, given the size of the Universe, that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations must be present. But one of the four, Enrico Fermi, asked, "If these civilizations do exist, where is everybody?" Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 million stars in our Galaxy alone, and perhaps 400 million galaxies in the Universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the 14 billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. Webb discusses in detail the 50 most cogent and intriguing solutions to Fermi's famous paradox.

A few real reviews for the book on Amazon:

Science and science fiction collide to pose answers to a fundamental question about our universe

If the universe is so old and so big, shouldn't there have been ample opportunities for other solar systems, planets, life forms, intelligence, and technology to form? Some these civilizations must be millions of years older than us on Earth, so surely should have developed the capability to communicate and travel through from star to star and galaxy to galaxy. But we haven't heard from or seen anybody else. Where is everybody?
This a big and provocative question that has scientific, philosophical, and religious implications. Webb breaks the question down by posing 50 possible solutions to this paradox. He brings in concepts from physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, history, geology, science fiction, sociology, cognition, and engineering. To think about this question involves the combination of so many disciplines, and that's why it's so very intriguing. Not only that, our best answers are at the frontiers of most of these fields of knowledge. So, in this book you get a whirlwind tour of the biggest thinking, cutting edge, and open questions in so many different areas. I recommend this book to science lovers and science fiction lovers.

Billions Of Channels And Nothing's On?!?

Four guys walk into the caf at Los Alamos for lunch and start discussing extraterrestrial intelligence. They decide that life, intelligence, and conquering the galaxy shouldn't be that hard. Then one of them asks, "where is everybody?" Far from being the beginning of a bad nerd joke, this lunchtime discussion actually took place in the summer of 1950 and Enrico Fermi really did ask the now famous Fermi Question. The discussion and question led to the Fermi Paradox: if the universe is as old as it is, and if the Earth isn't the oldest planet with intelligent life, and conquering the galaxy is as easy as it seems, then where the heck are they?

Physicist Stephen Webb does an admirable job of discussing some possible answers to the Fermi Paradox in If The Universe Is Teeming With Aliens...Where Is Everybody?: Fifty Solutions To The Fermi Paradox And The Problem Of Extraterrestrial Life. It's a tough job, even for a fan of the Fermi Paradox like Webb, since it means being well versed in a wide range of subjects AND it means thinking like an alien intelligence. Webb describes and critiques 49 of his favorite solutions, starting with They Are Here And They Call Themselves Hungarians, and then throws in a fiftieth solution of his own design.

The solutions are subdivided into three sections:
1) They Are Here,
2) They Exist But Have Not Yet Communicated, and
3)They Do Not Exist.

The book is set up so that after reading Chapters 1 and 2, a person can read the solutions as they wish. Some basic math and science skills are required, but the book should be accessible to a wide reading audience.

Well Made - Works Great

This is my second Ruff Riders harness, the other one is a large. This one hold the dog securely and is made very well. Getting it on the dog takes some practice, but I like the fact that there are no plastc connectors to break if there would be a car accident.

Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders Back Iran Framework Deal

As it was before, so it is now: the question of whether Congress will blow up diplomacy with Iran and put us on a path to another war is ultimately a question about Senate Democrats. There are 54 Republicans in the Senate. To pass the diplomacy-killing Corker bill, they need at least six Democrats. To override a threatened presidential veto of the Corker bill, they need at least thirteen Democrats. (In this discussion, I'm going to treat "Senate Democrats" and "Senators who caucus as Democrats" as synonyms.)

Here's some good news about where Democrats are standing: since the "framework" deal with Iran was announced last week: former Secretary of State and widely-presumed 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders have all welcomed the agreement.

[Journeyman]

1. Calvin & Hobbes explained this some years ago . . .

[irisblue]

2. ^^this^^

[951-Riverside]

3. Distance, evolution and time

Other civilizations may have existed and will probably exist but at different times because they evolve(d) differently. There is no law of the universe that says civilizations have to exist at the same time or even use the same methods of communication.

Its very possible that while we were grunting and banging rocks and sticks together to make fire, there were other civilizations out there that were where we are today but died out along ago.

When you think about it, our civilization only advanced over the past 100 years to travel to the moon after millions of years of evolution but sadly our current civilization will probably be long gone in about 200 years after a deadly disease is released, due to nuclear warfare or climate modification. On the other hand other species on our own planet will continue to evolve as will other civilizations in other galaxies.

The reality is finding another civilization co-existing within reach at the same time is slim to none let alone finding one that can travel the universe in a short amount of time over a great distance.

Just to give you an idea, it took our most distant probe voyager 1 nearly 40 earth years to travel about 37 light minutes or 0.00206489893 light years from earth and it will take 40,000 years to travel just 2 light years, our nearest star Alpha Centauri is 4.367 light years away and our own radio waves have only covered a tiny speck of the milky way galaxy since radio waves were first discovered by humans in 1895.

There are an estimated 170 billion other galaxies out there in the observable universe but we haven't fully breached our own solar system using probes and we've only made less than a %1 presence in own galaxy when it comes to radio waves and by the time our signals are discovered, we will be long gone.

Ultimately if we are to make meaningful contact within our short lives it have to be with a civilization so evolved and advanced that it will be able to travel or communicate great distances in a short amount of time (ie light years in a matter of earth minutes) but we also have to remember that we only evolved very recently to discover radio waves, who is to say that there aren't other methods of communication that we just haven't discovered yet?

[Katashi_itto]

6. Exactly, let's face it we sit out in the boondocks of the galaxy. That might of saved us from

other predators species.

Of course we will get exterminated by our own, in-species ones, but nothing is perfect.

[yuiyoshida]

4. Give the Universe time to sort it out...

I just know there are KLINGONS OUT THERE SOME WHERE!!!

[hobbit709]

5. We're on an Intergalactic Quarantine/Avoidance list until we become civilized.