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Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” I: A Lunchtime Conversation- Enrico Fermi and Extraterrestrial Intelligence
universetoday.com ^ | Paul Patton

Posted on 04/07/2015 10:29:47 AM PDT by BenLurkin

During the walk to the Fuller Lodge, the physicists discussed a recent spate of UFO sightings, and a cartoon in the New Yorker Magazine depicting aliens and a flying saucer. Although the topic of conversation moved on as the group sat down for lunch, Edward Teller recalls “in the middle of the conversation, Fermi came out with the quite unexpected question ‘Where is everybody?’…The result of his question was general laughter because of the strange fact that in spite of Fermi’s question coming out of the clear blue, everybody around the table seemed to understand at once that he was talking about extraterrestrial life”.

In his account of the famed luncheon, Teller wrote “I do not believe much came from this conversation, except perhaps a statement that the distances to the next location of living beings may be very great and that, indeed, as far as our galaxy is concerned, we are living somewhere in the sticks, far removed from the metropolitan area of the galactic center”.

York recalled a somewhat more expansive discussion in which Fermi “followed up with a series of calculations on the probability of earthlike planets, the probability of life given an earth, the probability of humans given life, the likely rise and duration of high technology, and so on. He concluded on the basis of these calculations that we ought to have been visited long ago and many times over”.

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


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: dysonsphere; edwardteller; enricofermi; fermi; fermibubbles; fermiparadox; seti
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To: BenLurkin
Enrico Fermi and aliens was all covered here.


41 posted on 04/07/2015 12:15:22 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Anyone know what happened to FReeper F15Eagle?)
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To: exnavy

Life is rare. Intelligent life is rarer still.


42 posted on 04/07/2015 12:16:55 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: Mr. K
If you have to ask, you can't afford it!😝
43 posted on 04/07/2015 12:19:05 PM PDT by A Formerly Proud Canadian (I once was blind, but now I see...)
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To: BenLurkin
I think the following statement is the most accurate:

technological civilization doesn’t last long enough for it to happen”.

If God created man on earth then there is no reason not to believe that He didn't do the same on another similar planet in the universe.

If He did it at the same time as here on earth, then they're probably no further developed than we are and would explain why we've never been visited.

Look how far we came between 1910 and 1970, from horse and buggies to putting astronauts on the moon and computers.

Technologically did we advance further during that time as compared to all that's been created between 1970 and today? Is technology advancing at a slower pace now than back then with just enhancements on what was created before such as telephone and television technology.......

I'd sure like to be around a hundred years from now to see how far we can go............

44 posted on 04/07/2015 12:19:56 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Uncle Sy: "Beavers are like Ninjas, they only come out at night and they're hard to find")
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To: BenLurkin

NEXT TIME THEY COME VISIT, I GUESS


45 posted on 04/07/2015 12:20:34 PM PDT by Mr. K (“Imma go out like muthafking Tupac muh n-word yeah bleeved dat”)
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To: Gideon7

Inertesting fan fic, reminds me of Mythical detective Loki...


46 posted on 04/07/2015 12:35:23 PM PDT by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: Mr. K

[ Besides, Bob Lazar told everyone the government already has alien spacecraft with gravity-propulsion systems, and I believe him (seriously, I do) ]

Either alines of advanced humans that came before us and are in hiding from us...


47 posted on 04/07/2015 12:36:08 PM PDT by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: Gideon7
"Pretty much. There's big money in the global warming hysteria. Grant funding, carbon credits, buying and selling offsets. How do you think Al Gore nearly became a billionaire?"
48 posted on 04/07/2015 8:33:36 PM PDT by Foolsgold (Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber)
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To: exnavy
Some have a hard time grasping that this the only planet with intelligent life.

Earth is merely the only planet we know of with intelligent life. In a universe as vast as ours, the probabilities of only one planet having intelligent life, are zero.

49 posted on 04/07/2015 8:37:54 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Windflier

Quite certain, this is it. The one and only.


50 posted on 04/08/2015 12:52:44 AM PDT by exnavy (An armed society is a polite society.)
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To: Las Vegas Dave

Fermi was one of the handful of geniuses who was considered a genius by those most of us would consider geniuses; Luis Alvarez saw Fermi use a chalkboard and chalk to work out a solution to a complex problem using first principles, just as part of a discussion among a bunch of heavy-hitter physicists. But Fermi also spent almost all his adult years indoors, and as a consequence wasn’t in any position to judge whether “everybody” was here or not. :’)


51 posted on 04/08/2015 2:25:50 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: BenLurkin; ALASKA; ActionNewsBill; A knight without armor; albertp; aragorn; areafiftyone; ...
Pinging the unidentified aerial phenomena list (ufo) ..

May 8, 1950-This is one of the most famous UFO pictures ever taken.
Photographed by Paul Trent, and first witnessed by his wife.
They were published in a local newspaper in McMinnville, Oregon.
Shortly thereafter, the Trent photos were published in Life magazine edition of June 26, 1950.
The rest is history.
(These photos have been deemed authentic for over 50 years. The analysis of the McMinnville photos by Dr.Bruce Maccabee PhD, can be found here = http://brumac.8k.com/trent1.html )

Those interested in the uap/ufo ping list, please Freepmail
LasVegasDave (freepmail works best)
if you would like your name added to the list.
( Approximately 200+ freepers are currently on the ping list ).

52 posted on 04/08/2015 3:27:18 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave (The democ"RAT"ic party preys on the ignorant..!)
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To: zeugma
I really like Forge of God

Yes, I thought it was very good. The sequel was interesting, for me, completely different book. Haven't read any past that.

53 posted on 04/08/2015 5:25:28 AM PDT by Paradox (Sayin it like I see it, wherever and whenever I see fit.)
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To: Paradox
Yes, I thought it was very good. The sequel was interesting, for me, completely different book. Haven't read any past that.

Different tastes. :-)

One scene with FoG that I really liked was kind of trivial. When the little spider crawled up on the TV, cut a hole and dropped in. Noise and light are heard, then some time later, two of them dropped out. I don't know why, but that always stuck with me.

As I get older I become more and more convinced that broadcasting our presence to the universe might not be the smartest thing to do.

54 posted on 04/08/2015 6:51:45 AM PDT by zeugma ( The Clintons Could Find a Loophole in a Stop Sign)
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To: Diogenesis

Vast distance? Piffle! Means nothing to a pair of entangled particles, they can effect each other regardless of distance. Tremendous temporal separation? Piffle! A photon crosses the Universe remaining in the present moment of it’s creation, regardless of how far it travels, because it is not traveling anywhere, it is traveling a specific when.


55 posted on 04/08/2015 8:08:42 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
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To: exnavy
Quite certain, this is it. The one and only.

You're welcome to your view, but considering that there are more stars in the universe than all the grains of sand on Earth, and that most of those stars have multiple planets orbiting them, the chances of this one little rock being the sole location of life, is absolute zero.

I'm sure it was a shocking experience for isolated primitives who encountered modern humans for the first time. Their entire worldview was shattered in an instant. Up until that moment, they were quite convinced that their little tribes represented the sum total of humanity on the planet.

56 posted on 04/08/2015 8:26:00 AM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: BenLurkin

I think there is a natural tendency to narrow our view of “life” to that which exists under only a set number of circumstances familiar to us. For example, if it isn’t bikini-wearing green Moon Women, what’s the point?


57 posted on 04/08/2015 8:31:04 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Windflier

You use the word “abomination” on your home page. That would infer that you know God. All those “stars” you reference were created in less than a day. The God of the universe will one day return to this world, to rule for eternity. He will raise the dead. He will give us perfect bodies. No where in scripture does He speak of life anywhere other than heaven, hell, and earth. This is all He created. There is no other life of significant importance. To consider otherwise is a fools errand. And you to are welcome to your opinion.


58 posted on 04/08/2015 10:30:09 AM PDT by exnavy (An armed society is a polite society.)
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To: exnavy

All those “stars” you reference were created in less than a day. ....How long is a day to God?


59 posted on 04/08/2015 10:34:04 AM PDT by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
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To: Safetgiver

Pose that question to God, I am not He.


60 posted on 04/08/2015 10:37:40 AM PDT by exnavy (An armed society is a polite society.)
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