Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Lecture 42: The Fermi Paradox
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Lecture 42: The Fermi Paradox
So, Where is Everybody? Interstellar colonization, in principle, is an
exponential growth process that would fill the galaxy in a few million
years even with a very modest star flight capability. This is a small
fraction of the lifetime of the Milky Way Galaxy, so the Galaxy should
be teaming with life. But, we so far have no compelling evidence of
extraterrestrial visitations, alien artifacts, or any other evidences
that the Galaxy is populated. Physicist and Nobel Laureate Enrico
Fermi's apparent paradox and some of the proposed resolutions are the
topic of this lecture. I will review the Fermi Paradox and describe the
most common possible resolutions. The Fermi Paradox is useful in
helping to frame the question of extraterrestrial life, even if we so
far have no answers. At the end I only touch on the Rare Earth
Hypothesis, but this is a very nuanced question which requires a whole
other lecture to explore that I have not had time to fully prepare for
during this busy quarter. Recorded live on 2009 Nov 30 in Room 1005
Smith Laboratory on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.
View all episodes
By Richard Pogge
4.7
186186 ratings
So, Where is Everybody? Interstellar colonization, in principle, is an
exponential growth process that would fill the galaxy in a few million
years even with a very modest star flight capability. This is a small
fraction of the lifetime of the Milky Way Galaxy, so the Galaxy should
be teaming with life. But, we so far have no compelling evidence of
extraterrestrial visitations, alien artifacts, or any other evidences
that the Galaxy is populated. Physicist and Nobel Laureate Enrico
Fermi's apparent paradox and some of the proposed resolutions are the
topic of this lecture. I will review the Fermi Paradox and describe the
most common possible resolutions. The Fermi Paradox is useful in
helping to frame the question of extraterrestrial life, even if we so
far have no answers. At the end I only touch on the Rare Earth
Hypothesis, but this is a very nuanced question which requires a whole
other lecture to explore that I have not had time to fully prepare for
during this busy quarter. Recorded live on 2009 Nov 30 in Room 1005
Smith Laboratory on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.
More shows like Astronomy 141 - Life in the Universe - Autumn Quarter 2009
View all
Hidden Brain
43,711 Listeners
StarTalk Radio
14,309 Listeners
TechStuff
1,751 Listeners
Big Picture Science
941 Listeners
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
1,353 Listeners
Ask a Spaceman!
827 Listeners
Astronomy Cast
2,873 Listeners
Universe Today Podcast
565 Listeners
Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights & Cosmic Discoveries
229 Listeners
Science In Action
354 Listeners
Today, Explained
10,302 Listeners
Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe
2,340 Listeners
The Supermassive Podcast
319 Listeners
Why This Universe?
390 Listeners
The Astrophysics Podcast
53 Listeners