Aliens, Science, and the Fermi Paradox: A Cosmic Puzzle

Enrico Fermi was an Italian-American physicist. He created the world’s first artificial nuclear reactor called Chicago Pile-1 and he was a part of the Manhattan Project. He is the architect of the nuclear. At the age of 37, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for inducing radioactivity by neutron bombardment and discovering transuranium elements. At noon in 1950, Enrico Fermi was walking to lunch with his friends Edward Teller, Herbert York, and Emil Konopinski. He wanted to pick his fellow physicists’ brains on UFO reports and faster-than-light travel. During lunch, he blurted out the question “Where are all the aliens?”. This simple but powerful question was the starting point of Fermi’s Paradox.

According to Wikipedia, the Fermi paradox can be explained as the inconsistency between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the high likelihood of its existence. The first point Fermi made was about the scale of the Milky Way and the observable universe. He thought if the Earth could inhabit life as a minuscule percentage of planets, there should be other life forms throughout the universe. The second aspect was the argument of probability. Assuming that intelligent life can endure countless problems, create and colonize habitats, and many more; it seems possible that a civilization from outer space would create habitats, colonize other planets, seek new resources, and be technologically advanced overall.

There are two main questions asked about the Fermi Paradox: “Why are no aliens or their artifacts found on Earth, or in the Solar System?” and “Why are there no signs of intelligence elsewhere in the universe?”. These questions had been in the talks again due to recent discoveries about a habitable zone around another star, just like the Earth and the Sun. 

The scientists are split on whether this finding is a good or a bad outcome for humanity. A portion of scientists argue that the discovery of a habitable planet and the possibility of extraterrestrial life on the mentioned planet is terrible news for humanity due to the Great Filter idea, which indicates that there is an inverse correlation between the probability of other life forms in the universe and the survival of humans. 

Even though there is no proof of extraterrestrial life yet, both possibilities are equally scary. Being alone in an unimaginable sized universe raises questions on our purpose and significance and the unknown other life forms that individuals cannot even begin to fathom makes you wonder the reason of their silence, if it could be something unsettling. 

Regardless of the answer, the pursuit of knowledge continues. Discoveries made by scientists amaze us every single time and bring us one step closer to understanding the place we hold in the cosmos. I am sure every single one of us questions if we are truly alone or just waiting for the first contact.