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Beyond the Fermi Paradox V: What is the Aestivation Hypothesis?
Universe Today ^ | Matt Williams

Posted on 08/08/2020 2:27:32 PM PDT by MtnClimber

In 1950, Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi sat down to lunch with some of his colleagues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he had worked five years prior as part of the Manhattan Project. According to various accounts, the conversation turned to aliens and the recent spate of UFOs. Into this, Fermi issued a statement that would go down in the annals of history: “Where is everybody?“

This became the basis of the Fermi Paradox, which refers to the high probability estimates for the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) and the apparent lack of evidence. But despite seventy years of looking, we still haven’t been able to answer Fermi’s question, leading to multiple proposals as to why this is. Today, we look at the “Aestivation Hypothesis,” which argues that aliens are not dead (or non-existent), they’re just resting!

This theory takes its cue from nature, where certain organisms enter a state of prolonged torpor during particularly hot or dry periods. Similar to hibernation in the winter, these organisms will remain in this state until conditions become cooler and wetter. Applied to the Fermi Paradox, the Aestivation Hypothesis asserts that alien civilizations are largely dormant because they are awaiting better conditions.

(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy
KEYWORDS:
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1 posted on 08/08/2020 2:27:32 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

You can see them in all of those telescope photos of nebulas. They are eating a cheeseburger.


2 posted on 08/08/2020 2:27:45 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Today, we look at the “Aestivation Hypothesis,” which argues that aliens are not dead (or non-existent), they’re just resting!<<

Beautiful plumage!


3 posted on 08/08/2020 2:29:26 PM PDT by freedumb2003 ("Do not mistake activity for achievement." - John Wooden)
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To: MtnClimber

They got tired of watching us kill each other, decided
our women aren’t worth it and that they could come back
in a million years to check.


4 posted on 08/08/2020 2:30:08 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: MtnClimber

No matter how many landers NASA and JPL send to Mars or anywhere else, they will never find life. Of course, these scientists are thoroughly marinated in evolutionary theory, so they will never allow themselves to honestly consider the implications of the fact that life exists nowhere else but on Earth.


5 posted on 08/08/2020 2:34:12 PM PDT by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.`)
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To: tet68

That sounds about right...:)

But if our women ain’t worth it...I can’t wait to see what theirs look like.

Unless they eat male human brains, of course.

My first thought is that Leftist men would be safe, but I think it is more likely they will mistake them for human females.

Which, given the treatment they might get...serves them right.


6 posted on 08/08/2020 2:37:42 PM PDT by rlmorel ("Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies"- George Orwell)
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To: freedumb2003

LOL


7 posted on 08/08/2020 2:38:53 PM PDT by dinodino
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To: tet68

Oh, they wanted our women alright but then they
found that they had been infected with feminism and
decided they wouldn’t risk infecting their own.


8 posted on 08/08/2020 2:42:12 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: MtnClimber

They are in the basement with Biden.


9 posted on 08/08/2020 2:43:42 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Life is anecdotal)
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To: MtnClimber

That’s just dumb.


10 posted on 08/08/2020 2:46:22 PM PDT by Sirius Lee (They are openly stating that they intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live.)
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To: MtnClimber

Squirrels, just want’a have fun, Squirrels, just want’a have fun.

(They are the aliens)


11 posted on 08/08/2020 2:46:30 PM PDT by Tellurian (Liberty and Justice for All)
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To: MtnClimber

They are waiting for a nice day to come out?


12 posted on 08/08/2020 2:52:39 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: MtnClimber

From the article:

“Statistically speaking, the odds are very much in favor of their being millions of civilizations out there.”

That’s where all these Drake equation / ETI predictions go off the rail. Statistically speaking, we don’t know diddly about the odds of the existence of intelligent extra-terrestrial life-forms - there could be a gazillion of them, or there could be just us.

And we don’t know because we don’t know in detail how intelligent life evolved - and if we don’t know that in detail, we don’t know the odds of it happening, even on an earth-like planet orbiting right in the sweet zone of a Sol-like sun. There could be 10^20 such planets, but if the odds of intelligent life evolving in such a situation are one in 10^21, it’s just us. And if those odds are one in 10^10, there’s gonna be critters everywhere. But we have no earthly idea what number would be.

No harm in looking, but if SETI’s your thing, prepare to be disappointed if nobody’s around to pick up the phone.


13 posted on 08/08/2020 2:56:57 PM PDT by Stosh
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To: MtnClimber

Problem is, the universe is expanding much faster than our technology’s ability to reach out and touch...


14 posted on 08/08/2020 2:57:28 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is Sam Adams now that we desperately need him)
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To: MtnClimber

15 posted on 08/08/2020 3:04:38 PM PDT by fso301
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To: Stosh
'...even on an earth-like planet...'

This is another major problem with the Drake equation analysis. It is difficult to define 'earth-like.' One needs a list of ALL of the attributes a planet must have in order for life to be possible and one must also know the likelihood that a planet formed by happenstance would have every one of these attributes within the necessary tolerances. Some estimates of this 'fine tuning' suggest it is very unlikely that even one planet would exist so hospitable to life as is the earth.

16 posted on 08/08/2020 3:13:21 PM PDT by Tom in SFCA
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To: MtnClimber

Aestivation Hypothesis is just stupid.

Out of the 50 trillion galaxies, each with 300,000,000 stars, each star having at least one planet, there are millions, billions of civilizations ... all hiding. Animals in the wild hide from predators; they don’t just rest as that leaves them open for discovery. Predators eat weak animals when the opportunity presents itself and the target animal can’t hide or run away.

Life is about survival, survival requires resources, the more resources the more successful, the more competition for those finite resources, exposure means death and one less competitor.

So hiding is the best survival strategy; any exposure must be casually attacked, never frontally as that exposes the attacker to others. Use of scout asteroids like “Oumuamua” that travel from one system to another using the system star to slingshot on to the next possible competitors home system.

Casual attacks can take many forms like a slow moving projectile fired from lightyears distant that on impact cause a sun to nova killing the competitor without exposing the attacker. Or some form of slow moving ‘seed’ that on reaching its destination collapses the target system into a 2 dimensional object.


17 posted on 08/08/2020 3:14:49 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: rlmorel
Maybe they saw this...

18 posted on 08/08/2020 3:14:55 PM PDT by Ouchthatonehurt
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To: freedumb2003

The Parrot Paradox.


19 posted on 08/08/2020 3:15:50 PM PDT by Moonman62 (http://www.freerepublic.com/~moonman62/)
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To: MtnClimber
Assuming that ETIs are likely is not at all farfetched. Based on the sheer size and age of the observable Universe – 93 billion light-years in diameter and 13.8 billion years – scientists have typically treated the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) as a foregone conclusion. Statistically speaking, the odds are very much in favor of their being millions of civilizations out there.

Yes it is farfetched.

The assumptions are many and without supporting evidence.

We have explored one world, and it has us on it.

Assuming there are other worlds like ours is assuming much too much.

There are plenty of reasons to believe we are alone.

20 posted on 08/08/2020 3:16:02 PM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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