Talking about extraterrestrial intelligence often sweep the two ideas. One of them is the Drake equation which estimates the number of civilizations in our galaxy that we could detect — perhaps thousands, according to our estimates. The other is the so-called Fermi paradox, whereby we would need to see intelligent aliens, if they existed in anything because they would inevitably colonized the galaxy, and if we can’t see them, and search their signals don’t make sense. No matter which explanation you chose on our numerous articles on the topic of the Fermi paradox, it is necessary to know that the Nobel prize in physics never imagined that aliens do not exist.
The Drake equation is really true: it was created by astronomer and SETI pioneer Frank Drake. But the Fermi paradox is a myth. It is named after physicist Enrico Fermi but Fermi never made such a statement.
The Fermi paradox is invalid because it is rooted in a quote by Senator William Proxmire. In 1981, the Fermi paradox, he told me the reason for the murder of the NASA’s program to search for extraterrestrial civilizations (SETI); the program is resumed at the urging of Carl Sagan, but again ruined in 1993 with the filing of Senator Richard Bryan. Since then, no U.S. study on this topic did not attract public money, even if around stars similar to our Sun, has already found thousands of new planets.
Enrico Fermi, Nobel prize winner and Builder of the first nuclear reactor, have not published a word on the subject of aliens. We know something about his views, as a physicist Eric Jones recorded the views of three people who were present at the same table during lunch at Los Alamos in 1950, where he launched the Fermi paradox: Emil Konopinski, Edward teller and Herbert York. Fermi died in 1954.
According to these witnesses, they were discussing the cartoon, in which cheerful aliens got out of the flying saucers carrying trash cans stolen on the streets of new York, as the Fermi suddenly asked: “Where is everybody?”. Each understood that he is referring to the fact that we have never seen any of alien spaceships, and the conversation turned on the possibility of interstellar travel. York seems to remember the events of those days:
“…he came to the conclusion that since no one attended, and interstellar travel may be impossible or, if possible, not worth the effort, or technological civilization exists long enough for that to happen”.
York and the teller seemed to think that Fermi questioned the possibility of interstellar travel — no one thought he was asked about the possible existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. Therefore, the so-called Fermi paradox — one that calls into question the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations does not reflect the views of Fermi. Skepticism Fermi on the topic of interstellar travel is not surprising, because in 1950 the rocket into orbit has not come down yet, not to mention other planet or star.
But if Fermi had not expressed this pessimistic idea where her feet grow?
The phrase “…they are not there; therefore, there is no” first appeared in print in 1975, when astronomer Michael HART stated that if intelligent aliens existed, they would inevitably colonized the milky Way. If they existed everywhere, they would be here. And if they do not, HART concluded that people are likely to be the only intelligent life in our galaxy, so the search for intelligent life somewhere else “is probably a waste of time and money”. His argument was challenged many times — maybe star travel is not possible, or nobody decided to colonize this galaxy, or to have been visited long ago and the signs of this are buried with the dinosaurs — but it is entrenched in thinking about the alien civilizations.
In 1980 Frank Tipler questioned the arguments of HART only with one obvious question: where someone will take resources on the colonization of billions of stars? He proposed “self-replicating universal constructor with intelligence comparable with man.” It is enough to send one of these to the nearest star and to set the task to create a copy, using the available materials, and then send them to other stars until the galaxy is filled with those. Tipler suggested that the lack of such things on the Earth proves that our intelligence is the only one in the entire Universe (and not only in the milky Way).
HART and Tipler, of course, deserve credit for the idea, which lies at the basis of the so-called Fermi paradox. But for many years their idea has been confused with the original issue of Fermi. The confusion apparently began in 1977, when physicist David Stevenson used the phrase “the Fermi paradox” in the work, Recalling the idea of HART as a possible answer to the Fermi question. The Fermi paradox would more accurately be dubbed “the argument of HART — Tipler against the existence of technologically advanced aliens” that sounds an order of magnitude less authoritative old name, but it seems more fair.
As for paradox, its not even in the arguments of HART and Tipler. There is no logical contradiction between the statement “extraterrestrial life may exist everywhere” and the statement “extraterrestrial life is not here”, because nobody knows whether it is possible to journey from star to star.
The argument of HART — Tipler, clothed in the authority of the name of Fermi, led to the fact that some people have become pessimistic to consider our chances of detection of extraterrestrial life. But to suggest that we should not look for intelligent life only because they do not see it here, silly. However, everything indicates that pessimism is slowly going away. Not so long ago Yuri Milner has promised to invest $ 100 million over ten years in project Breakthrough Listen. But finding the signal among the millions of stars at unknown frequencies may require more resources.