We often think of humanity as the big dog of Earth, but in truth we are rather small

as apex critters go. Could we be an abnormality, small in size, and could this be our

big answer to the Fermi paradox?

Today we'll be looking at the big alien Theory proposed by astrophysicist Fergus Simpson

that explores the likelihood that Earth's human population is significantly larger than

that of most other intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations.

This perspective is grounded in statistical reasoning and the vastness of the universe,

and so we'll be dipping to some math

today, population distribution statistics. As usual, the math is just supplementary,

there is no pop quiz at the end of the episode. We'll be spending a lot of time talking about

bigger brains specifically, though that's not part of the theory, and the theory is pretty

straightforward.

You presumably need some minimum physical size to be a naturally evolving critter, able to discover

or invent technology. Any size bigger than this is fine, but the bigger you are, the more

resources the individual needs. Thus, the more scattered the population of those critters will be,

fewer in number and not able to congregate as closely in those early city days.

Food and supplies for the same population require a larger harvesting radius and transport

time. An elephant herd or whale pod is going to have a heck of a time transitioning to something

like the Fertile River Valley civilizations where we start seeing a lot of engineering

and recording going on.

As such, there might not just be a minimum size for intelligence, but a maximum one as

well.

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