The Fermi Paradox (Encore)

Everything Everywhere Daily

Gary Arndt

History, Education

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a previous episode, I spoke about the Drake equation and the odds of there being intelligent extraterrestrial life. Many people have used the Drake equation to argue that it is almost impossible for there not to be intelligent life in our galaxy. However, in the summer of 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi pushed back against this by asking a very simple question: if there are so many intelligent civilizations, where are they? Learn more about the Fermi Paradox and some possible answers to the question, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors BetterHelp is an online platform that provides therapy and counseling services to individuals in need of mental health support. The platform offers a range of communication methods, including chat, phone, and video sessions with licensed and accredited therapists who specialize in different areas, such as depression, anxiety, relationships, and more. Get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/Everywhere ButcherBox is the perfect solution for anyone looking to eat high-quality, sustainably sourced meat without the hassle of going to the grocery store. With ButcherBox, you can enjoy a variety of grass-fed beef, heritage pork, free-range chicken, and wild-caught seafood delivered straight to your door every month. Visit ButcherBox.com/Daily to get 10% off and free chicken thighs for a year. InsideTracker provides a personal health analysis and data-driven wellness guide to help you add years to your life—and life to your years. Choose a plan that best fits your needs to get your comprehensive biomarker analysis, customized Action Plan, and customer-exclusive healthspan resources. For a limited time, Everything Everywhere Daily listeners can get 20% off InsideTracker’s new Ultimate Plan. Visit InsideTracker.com/eed. Subscribe to the podcast! https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily.
0:04.0	In a previous episode I spoke about the Drake Equation and the odds of their being
0:11.4	intelligent extraterrestrial life.
0:13.0	Many people have used the Drake equation to argue that it's almost impossible for their not to be intelligent life in our galaxy.
0:20.0	However, in the summer of 1950, physicist Enrico Fermy pushed back against this by asking a very simple question.
0:26.4	If there are so many intelligent civilizations, where are they?
0:29.8	Learn more about the Fermi paradox and some possible answers to the question on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The first thing you should know about the Fermi paradox is that Fermi wasn't the first person to ask the question, and it really isn't a paradox.
0:58.0	A paradox is a statement that is self-contradictory.
1:01.0	For example, if I said, this statement is false that would be a paradox.
1:06.3	The Fermi paradox is really just an unanswered question.
1:09.5	Likewise, the association with Enrico Fermi came from an informal conversation he had in the summer of
1:14.4	1950 at Los Alamos Labs in New Mexico.
1:17.8	According to legend, he was having lunch with physicist Emil Kaunapinski, Edward Teller,
1:22.2	and Herbert York, when the subject of a cartoon in the New Yorker
1:25.2	magazine came up. The cartoon showed aliens coming out of a flying saucer, taking garbage cans away.
1:31.3	Fermi simply blurted out, where is everybody?
1:35.0	Everyone present had a slightly different account of what happened, but they all recall laughing
1:38.8	at the way he said it.
1:40.5	The first use of the phrase Fermi, occurred in 1977 in a paper written by physicist David G. Stevenson.
1:47.0	One of the earliest discussions of the question of where the aliens were was made by Russian rocket scientist
1:51.7	Constantine Sylkikovsky in 1933.
1:55.0	However, because everyone calls it the Fermi Paradox,
	...

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