30 Solutions to the Fermi Paradox
A retro sci-fi adventure
I often wonder if the majority of us choose to believe in life on other worlds because of scientific reasons, or sentimental ones. There are, of course, plenty of encouraging numbers about the many Earth-like exoplanets and the many radiating stars around which habitats might form. The odds seem to be in the favor of extraterrestrial life. But then there is the reality of things: the silence, the lack of any evidence that anyone out there is listening at all. How much of our belief in alien life stems from data, and how much of it stems from a desire not to be alone? Certainly humans are social, bonded creatures — some more than others. If we do not like to feel alone on a personal level, then perhaps we so cherish the idea of alien life because we do not like to feel alone on a species-wide level.
We are so like a man on an island, huddled around a fire at night and with no one to whom to speak. It is easy to see how a person like that might start to wish for company. And he knows, too, that this company may not always be good — it may be dangerous and sharp-toothed and unsympathetic — but both to quell his curiosity and to quell his loneliness it is a chance he is willing to take.
Today I’ve decided to explore some of the most memorable explanations to the absence of alien life, or as it’s…
