Where is everybody? It might be that evolution of life is far more complex than we anticipated. It may be an impossible process...

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 The Fermi Paradox

This post is the second part of the post - Extraterrestrial Life.

The Fermi Paradox asks us the question - Where is everybody?

We have created many satellites for launching into space, developed the most powerful telescope, landed rovers on other planets and even carried out asteroid defence tests.

After searching the 93 billion light-year expanse, we discovered that we were in a bubble in an ocean of planets. There are a mammoth number of Earth-like planets. 

Yet, no sign of alien life!

Our planet is the only one that harbours life. It may be the first one. Or other species are not discovered yet.

But this forms the Fermi Paradox, as devised by Italian scientist Enrico Fermi.

It states that the evolution of life is far more complex than we anticipated. Evolution may be an almost impossible process, with humans being the first ones that have passed this process (speculation).

The Fermi Paradox contradicts all our proofs for any existing alien civilisation, including The iconic "Wow! Signal". But there are many different criteria for the sustenance of alien civilisations. These are known as the Great Filter.

The Great Filter

The Great Filters are like huge technological barriers which prevent civilisations from developing new technologies or evolving into new beings. The Great Filters follow the principle of the Survival of the Fittest, and segregate the worthy civilisations from the rest. There could be a large number of Filters.

Let's consider two scenarios for Filters for humans-

1) The Filter is behind us.

This Filter tells us that evolution of life is a more complex process than we estimate it to be. Many species which became extinct failed to evolve. We might be the luckiest species or the first ones to evolve into intelligent species. 

This explains why no one is replying to our messages and, no other species is found. There are no other species! 

But this doesn't explain two things-

1) No evidence of other species that are not so intelligent.

2) Wow! Signal

2) The Filter is ahead of us.

This states that we are just a species but started late and by this time many other species have tried to create more powerful technologies but ended up destroying themselves. We might face the ultimate doom too.

The things other species might have been destroyed trying to-

1) Become a Type 3 Civilization (See Extraterrestrial Life post)

2) Stop a Robotic invasion

Wow! Signal

Big Ear and the computer printout of the Wow! Signal (From Google Images)

At the Ohio State University, a radio telescope named Big Ear was set up to find extraterrestrial signals. Big Ear had two parts - One movable, which moves up and down for capturing signals from all angles of that direction and reflecting them to the other part, which was immovable and only received the signal and sent it to the computers for analysation. 

On August 15 1977, a few days later, an unusually strong radio signal was found by Big Ear. Astronomer Jerry R. Ehman measured the signal and was so thrilled by the discovery that he wrote "Wow!" on the computer printout that measured its intensity. He also circled the intensity, which gave the signal a second name:

6EQUJ5

But since the moving part was moving at all angles in that direction continuously, it still continued and as a result, the signal was cut. The astronomers hoped that when the moving part inclined in the correct direction, they would get to hear the other part. But imagine their surprise, 

There was no more signal. The astronomers had missed the final part. 
After analysation, they found out that the first part contained no clue, and the part they missed included the most significant element. 

The astronomers hoped to recieve a second signal again, but they were out of luck.

Some astronomers and scientists speculate that the last part contained a message from aliens.

But there are two kinds of sources that are thought to produce such a signal:

1) Aliens that have access to radio technology, suggesting that they crossed a Great Filter

2) Some kind of star or black hole.

When I was talking about the Great Filter behind us, I meant that the "Wow! Signal" can't be produced because there were no aliens. But the strong intensity of the signal suggests the opposite, as there can't be a source 'nearby' that can produce this intensity and likewise escape our observations.

You can see the post Extraterrestrial Life and many others on the home page.

This is where I will conclude my post.

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Thank you for reading

Aditya VN Kadiyala