What is the Fermi Paradox?

Hello Vocal users,

Movies such as District 9, Cloverfield and Under the Skin all have something in common, they are about aliens. Aliens are organisms found outside of our home planet, Earth. With all these movies and concepts of aliens floating through modern culture, it is surprising that we haven't even found alien societies yet! But, why? Taking into account the size of the Milky way, or the size of the universe, how is it possible there are no aliens? Earth is not the only habitable planet for life to nurture in so where in the Universe are they?

This is called the Fermi Paradox. We have not found an answer for this mysterious question yet although, we have posed certain theories that may conclude this answer.

Firstly, we have to look at the types of civilizations that could be produced when life is created. A scale was created by a Russian astrophysicist named Nikolai Kardashev. This scale is called the Kardashev Scale. Each civilization is progressively becomes more advanced and the final civilization reaches god-like power. In the Kardashev Scale, there are 3 main civilizations by some astronomers have pushed it out to 5 civilizations. Today, I will explain only the first 3.

The first civilization is the Type I civilization. a type 1 civilization should be able to use all energy provided by their home planet, in our case, it is Earth. This civilization should not be using fossil fuels as they are limited and will eventually expire. They should be able to use natural resources such as solar energy, hydro-energy and wind energy to its full potential. Being a type 1 civilization will mean the society will have an understanding on how our planet works. With this knowledge, they should be able to control the weather to support humanity. Our civilization is close to the Type 1 Civilization because we are rated a 0.7. Predictions pose that we can reach Type 1 in 2 centuries.

The second civilization is the Type II Civilization. This civilization is more advanced compared to the first one as this civilization is capable of accessing the energy of their star. The output of the Sun's energy per hour is more than the energy Earth has used in a year. The Sun gives off 430 quintillion joules of energy in an hour whilst Earth uses 410 quintillion joules of energy in a year. So how do we achieve this feat? The Dyson Sphere is a hypothetical mechanical invention which is capable of doing just this by surrounding the Sun. What a Dyson Sphere does is cover the Sun, converting solar energy into energy we can use for other purposes. As we consume more and more of our nonrenewable sources such as fossil fuels and oil, we will be in need of finding another battery for our planet.

The final civilization is the Type III Civilization. This civilization will have dominated their entire galaxy, which in our case is the Milky Way. Evidently, this civilization will have control of the galaxies energy, probably engulfing many, if not all starts in Dyson Spheres.

So now, the paradox. Where in the universe are these civilizations? We have discovered a lot of planets and many of them are even habitable! So, where are the aliens? This is the paradox, but there are explanations that could explain this.

1) There are 'barriers' that each planet face. This one is one of favorites. These barriers are things such as climate change, volcanic explosions or asteroids. Either we have passed the barrier which means we are safe, or we have yet to see the barrier. This barrier will be a test to see if the planet is 'fit' enough to pass. This barrier is called the 'Great Filter'

2) We quite literally are alone. Maybe Earth is the first planet to host life in the entire universe. The conditions are on the dot perfect for life to grow in. We may be the only living thing in the entire universe to observe it.

3) Space travel is too hard for aliens to visit us. As Einstein stated, travel at light speed is impossible and the distances between planets, solar systems and galaxies is simply to great for organisms to travel to.

4) Civilizations that are advanced have risen too recently to visit us.

5) Aliens already visited us but we were not there to see them. This one is sad as that means that alien race probably thought there was no life on this planet so they left.

Thanks for reading this article! The following are the sources I used.

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/g32704287/best-alien-movies-on-netflix/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhhvQGsMEc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eogruHLmSc

https://astrobites.org/2016/03/15/classifying-civilisations-an-introduction-to-the-kardashev-scale/#:~:text=Kardashev%20initially%20proposed%20that%20humanity,humanity%20at%20a%20meagre%200.7.

https://futurism.com/the-kardashev-scale-type-i-ii-iii-iv-v-civilization

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/this-is-the-potential-of-solar-power-2015-9?r=US&IR=T#:~:text=In%20a%20single%20hour%2C%20the,with%2018%20zeroes%20after%20it!

https://www.space.com/25325-fermi-paradox.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

I think this was one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxSY1tsI1NA

I think this source helped:

https://phys.org/news/2016-07-iii-civilization.html

I think this source helped:

https://www.thoughtco.com/counting-habitable-planets-3072596#:~:text=As%20additional%20data%20is%20accumulated,in%20their%20stars'%20habitable%20zones.

I think this source helped:

https://www.thoughtco.com/counting-habitable-planets-3072596#:~:text=As%20additional%20data%20is%20accumulated,in%20their%20stars'%20habitable%20zones.

I think this source helped:

https://www.space.com/25325-fermi-paradox.html

https://www.space.com/19103-milky-way-100-billion-planets.html#:~:text=Our%20Milky%20Way%20galaxy%20is,of%20these%20planets%20per%20star.%22

I think this source helped:

Kind of helped:

https://www.space.com/19103-milky-way-100-billion-planets.html#:~:text=Our%20Milky%20Way%20galaxy%20is,of%20these%20planets%20per%20star.%22

Kind of helped:

https://www.thoughtco.com/counting-habitable-planets-3072596#:~:text=As%20additional%20data%20is%20accumulated,in%20their%20stars'%20habitable%20zones.

I think this source helped:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxSY1tsI1NA

I think this source helped: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/dyson-sphere.htm#:~:text=Think%20of%20a%20Dyson%20sphere,next%20couple%20of%20million%20years.