The Fermi Paradox, is a famous question posed by physicist Enrico Fermi. "Where are they?" he said. If the Universe is 14 billion years old, and we're a young civilization on a young planet, then where are the hopelessly advanced cultures? Where are the hyper drives and the Dyson Spheres and the quantum super-positions of chocolate and peanut butter.
A guy named Stephen Webb wrote a book about the answers for Fermi. He does a great job of grouping different kinds of answers, and exploring them. And in truth, that's the best part of the paradox. Wondering what the answer is. Wondering why we are so apparently alone.
One resolution for the paradox, one affliction that may descend on every sufficiently advanced culture, is the death of boredom. They become sufficiently entertained. Perpetually sated. And so they lose their adventurous spirit. Or learn to quell it without any real adventure. The aliens, wherever they are, live in, and are consumed by, virtual worlds and virtual pleasures. They enter an echo chamber of old ideas and predictable stories.
When will this happen us? When will humans begin spiraling into the abyss? I think it started around 1983.
A guy named Stephen Webb wrote a book about the answers for Fermi. He does a great job of grouping different kinds of answers, and exploring them. And in truth, that's the best part of the paradox. Wondering what the answer is. Wondering why we are so apparently alone.
One resolution for the paradox, one affliction that may descend on every sufficiently advanced culture, is the death of boredom. They become sufficiently entertained. Perpetually sated. And so they lose their adventurous spirit. Or learn to quell it without any real adventure. The aliens, wherever they are, live in, and are consumed by, virtual worlds and virtual pleasures. They enter an echo chamber of old ideas and predictable stories.
When will this happen us? When will humans begin spiraling into the abyss? I think it started around 1983.
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