Tag Archives: Fermi paradox

Three conditions are necessary for SETI to succeed

Posted on March 12, 2015 by

Tom Hartsfield has a post up at Real Clear Science criticizing both the Drake equation and SETI: If you like science fiction, you’re probably familiar with the Drake equation. This famous one-line formula solves for the number of intelligent alien … Continue reading →

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Eavesdropping on E.T. and the possibility of interstellar travel

Posted on November 23, 2014 by

Gabriel Popkin as an article at Inside Science about a study that looks at the possibility of intercepting communications between other alien civilizations.  The idea is that communicating across interstellar distances is best done with lasers. So far, the optical … Continue reading →

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How should we communicate with aliens? Should we communicate?

Posted on November 15, 2014 by

Seth Shostak has a post up at HuffPost asking what we should say if we ever find ourselves in conversation with aliens.  Apparently this was the topic of a recent conference at the SETI institute. Before commenting on Shostak’s main … Continue reading →

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If evolution started over, how similar would its results be?

Posted on June 23, 2014 by

Zach Zorich has an interesting piece at Nautilus asking if the world began again, would life as we know it exist? In less than five milliseconds, a Hydromantes salamander can launch its tongue—including the muscles, cartilage, and part of its skeleton—out of … Continue reading →

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The Fermi Paradox – Wait But Why

Posted on June 17, 2014 by

The “Wait But Why” blog takes an in depth look at something some of us were discussing on another thread: the Fermi Paradox. Everyone feels something when they’re in a really good starry place on a really good starry night … Continue reading →

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xkcd: Fish

Posted on June 4, 2014 by

xkcd on the Fermi Paradox.  Click through for the full sized version. xkcd: Fish.

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We might find extraterrestrial life soon, but intelligent life?

Posted on May 27, 2014 by

Forbes has an article up noting that many scientists, including Seth Shostak, are now saying that we could find intelligent extraterrestrial life in the next twenty years.  I definitely think we might find extraterrestrial life in that time frame, but … Continue reading →

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The faster interstellar travel is, the further away intelligent aliens are

Posted on February 22, 2014 by

Ethan Siegel has an excellent post up exploring the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations. With hundreds of billions of stars (visible, above, in infrared wavelengths) in our galaxy alone, and literally trillions of planets around them, we have many, many chances … Continue reading →

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How far away is the closest extraterrestrial civilization?

Posted on January 23, 2014 by

First, let me be clear on what I’m talking about: intelligent aliens with an advanced civilization.  This is a different question than extraterrestrial life in general.  For life in general, particularly simple life, I’d be surprised if we’d have to … Continue reading →

Posted in Space | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Beasts or gods; why a War Of The Worlds is very unlikely

Posted on December 9, 2013 by

One of the scenarios that is often played out in science fiction is what would happen if we encountered an alien civilization.  Often, we are portrayed as defending Earth from an alien invasion or fighting battles with the aliens in … Continue reading →

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