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	<title>Space Time Stories</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com</link>
	<description>Space and Time Travel Stories.  A Science Fiction Blog By Sean O&#039;Brien</description>
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		<title>Fermi Paradox Website</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/announcements/fermi-paradox-website/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/announcements/fermi-paradox-website/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:50:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fermi paradox]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.spacetimestories.com/?p=480</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just found the Fermi Paradox website. Good links but I&#8217;d like to see more content.

	Related posts
	
	Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox (0)
	Where are the aliens? (3)
	More ideas on the Fermi Paradox (5)
	Have physicists discovered alien life? (0)


]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just found the <a href="http://www.fermisparadox.com/" target="_blank">Fermi Paradox </a>website. Good links but I&#8217;d like to see more content.</p>

	<h4>Related posts</h4>
	<ul class="st-related-posts">
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/yet-another-answer-to-the-fermi-paradox/" title="Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox (February 3, 2009)">Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox</a> (0)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/where-are-the-aliens/" title="Where are the aliens? (October 20, 2009)">Where are the aliens?</a> (3)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/more-ideas-on-the-fermi-paradox/" title="More ideas on the Fermi Paradox (June 21, 2009)">More ideas on the Fermi Paradox</a> (5)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/uncategorized/have-physicists-discovered-alien-life/" title="Have physicists discovered alien life? (September 12, 2009)">Have physicists discovered alien life?</a> (0)</li>
</ul>

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		<item>
		<title>Starry Messages: Searching for Signatures of Interstellar Archaeology</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/announcements/starry-messages-searching-for-signatures-of-interstellar-archaeology/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/announcements/starry-messages-searching-for-signatures-of-interstellar-archaeology/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:53:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.spacetimestories.com/?p=473</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Richard A. Carrigan Jr of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory writes details of a SETI search based upon visual observation of galactic scale artifacts.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Carrigan_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Richard A. Carrigan Jr</a> of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory writes details of a SETI search based upon visual observation of galactic scale artifacts.</p>
<p><a href="http://home.fnal.gov/~carrigan/index.htm" target="_blank">His website is here</a>.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1001.5455" target="_blank">Starry Messages:  Searching for Signatures of Interstellar Archaeology</a></strong></p>
<p><em>&#8220;Searching for signatures of cosmic-scale archaeological artifacts such as Dyson spheres or Kardashev civilizations is an interesting alternative to conventional SETI. Uncovering such an artifact does not require the intentional transmission of a signal on the part of the original civilization. This type of search is called interstellar archaeology or sometimes cosmic archaeology. The detection of intelligence elsewhere in the Universe with interstellar archaeology or SETI would have broad implications for science. For example, the constraints of the anthropic principle would have to be loosened if a different type of intelligence was discovered elsewhere. A variety of interstellar archaeology signatures are discussed including non-natural planetary atmospheric constituents, stellar doping with isotopes of nuclear wastes, Dyson spheres, as well as signatures of stellar and galactic-scale engineering. The concept of a Fermi bubble due to interstellar migration is introduced in the discussion of galactic signatures. These potential interstellar archaeological signatures are classified using the Kardashev scale. A modified Drake equation is used to evaluate the relative challenges of finding various sources. With few exceptions interstellar archaeological signatures are clouded and beyond current technological capabilities. However SETI for so-called cultural transmissions and planetary atmosphere signatures are within reach.&#8221;</em></p>

	<h4>Related posts</h4>
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	<li>No related posts.</li>
	</ul>

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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Where are the aliens?</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/where-are-the-aliens/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/where-are-the-aliens/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:02:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[fermi paradox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aliens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[evoluation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nasa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[organic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.spacetimestories.com/?p=456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Peering far beyond our solar system, NASA researchers have detected the basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers toward the goal of being able to characterize planets where life could exist. The planet is not habitable but it has the same chemistry that, if found around a rocky planet in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><i>&#8220;Peering far beyond our solar system,<a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2340" mce_href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2340" target="_blank"> NASA researchers have detected</a> the basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers toward the goal of being able to characterize planets where life could exist. The planet is not habitable but it has the same chemistry that, if found around a rocky planet in the future, could indicate the presence of life.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>If organic molecules are so prevalent where are all the intelligent space-faring aliens ?&nbsp; The lack of evidence for aliens is strong evidence that we are alone, the random evolution of intelligent life is so rare that we are the only ones in the entire galaxy.&nbsp; Note that this is not the same as saying &#8220;the random evolution of life is rare&#8221;.&nbsp; There probably are bacteria in most solar systems.</p>

	<h4>Related posts</h4>
	<ul class="st-related-posts">
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/more-ideas-on-the-fermi-paradox/" title="More ideas on the Fermi Paradox (June 21, 2009)">More ideas on the Fermi Paradox</a> (5)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/uncategorized/have-physicists-discovered-alien-life/" title="Have physicists discovered alien life? (September 12, 2009)">Have physicists discovered alien life?</a> (0)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/announcements/has-optical-seti-discovered-aliens/" title="Has Optical SETI discovered aliens? (May 18, 2009)">Has Optical SETI discovered aliens?</a> (4)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/commentary/fermis-paradox/" title="Fermis Paradox (June 19, 2008)">Fermis Paradox</a> (2)</li>
</ul>

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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Don&#8217;t Panic</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/announcements/dont-panic/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/announcements/dont-panic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:51:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[and another thing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[don't panic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[douglas adams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eoin colfer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guide]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hitchhiker]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.spacetimestories.com/?p=443</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Don&#8217;t Panic, &#8220;And another thing&#8230;.&#8221; is a new volume in the Hitchhiker&#8217;s Guide to the Galaxy written by Eoin Colfer.


	Related posts
	
	No related posts.
	

]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Don&#8217;t Panic, &#8220;And another thing&#8230;.&#8221; is a new volume in the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Full-Cast-Dramatization/dp/1572704691/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=spatimsto-20&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1255311968&amp;sr=1-7" target="_blank">Hitchhiker&#8217;s Guide to the Galaxy</a> written by <a href="http://www.eoincolfer.com/" target="_blank">Eoin Colfer</a>.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&#038;bc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;fc1=000000&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;t=spatimsto-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;m=amazon&#038;f=ifr&#038;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&#038;asins=1401323588" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>

	<h4>Related posts</h4>
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	<li>No related posts.</li>
	</ul>

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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ian Banks&#8217; Transition now on iTunes</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/announcements/ian-banks-transition-now-on-itunes/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/announcements/ian-banks-transition-now-on-itunes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:06:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ian banks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transition]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.spacetimestories.com/?p=433</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ian Banks new novel Transition is now available as a free podcast on iTunes.  This is great news for Banks fans, and for scifi in general.  Many thanks to Orbit Books for releasing this as a podcast the same day as the hardcover publication.  Now that&#8217;s a company which understands Web 2.0.


	Related posts
	
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]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.iain-banks.net/" target="_blank">Ian Banks</a> new novel Transition is now available as a <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=332739756" target="_blank">free podcast</a> on iTunes.  This is great news for Banks fans, and for scifi in general.  Many thanks to <a href="http://www.orbitbooks.net/2009/07/23/listening-in-on-iain-m-banks/" target="_blank">Orbit Books</a> for releasing this as a podcast the same day as the hardcover publication.  Now that&#8217;s a company which understands Web 2.0.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&#038;bc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;fc1=000000&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;t=spatimsto-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;m=amazon&#038;f=ifr&#038;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&#038;asins=0316071986" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>

	<h4>Related posts</h4>
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	<li>No related posts.</li>
	</ul>

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		<title>Atheists and the Fermi Paradox</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/atheists-and-the-fermi-paradox/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/atheists-and-the-fermi-paradox/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:56:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[fermi paradox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aliens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[athesists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FTL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[galaxy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[god]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.spacetimestories.com/?p=337</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The basic argument of an atheist is &#8220;If there is a God then prove it, where is the evidence?  I can&#8217;t see him, I&#8217;ve never seen a miracle, there is no evidence of supernatural powers or beings.&#8221;  Replace those words with aliens and you get the exact same argument.  Anyone who argues against the existence [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The basic argument of an atheist is &#8220;If there is a God then prove it, where is the evidence?  I can&#8217;t see him, I&#8217;ve never seen a miracle, there is no evidence of supernatural powers or beings.&#8221;  Replace those words with aliens and you get the exact same argument.  Anyone who argues against the existence of God has to give the exact same arguments against the existence of aliens.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m in the opposite category, despite my faith I say &#8220;There are no aliens in this galaxy, prove me wrong.&#8221;   It&#8217;s unreasonable to say that even one other intelligent species evolved in our galaxy because that requires wild coincidences about why they aren&#8217;t here.  Some of those coincidences say:</p>
<p>1 They evolved at almost exactly the same time as we did (beating the odds of 13 billion to one)</p>
<p>2  they aren&#8217;t explorers, they just stayed home, and they never sent out robotic exploration ships</p>
<p>3  they killed themselves (war, suicide, plague) before launching robotic exploration machines</p>
<p>4  they all died because of natural events (asteroids, supernovae, plague) before launching robotic exploration machines</p>
<p>5  their robots came and left before we noticed and left no evidence of their visit, and are probably secretly watching us</p>
<p>6  they have a Prime Directive and they won&#8217;t visit us until x happens &#8230;. and maybe never</p>
<p>Many people confuse the evolution of life with the evolution of intelligent life.  They say life evolves easily and that life is everywhere in our galaxy, but they are not talking about intelligent life, they are talking about bacteria.   The <a href="http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2009/03/rare-earth-delusion.html" target="_blank">Rare Earth</a> explanation for the Fermi Paradox is not about planets, it&#8217;s not about atmospheres, and it&#8217;s not about bacteria.  It&#8217;s about space faring sentient life.  I could not care less if there are bacteria in every stellar system in this galaxy.  That is boring and has nothing at all to do with the Fermi Paradox.</p>
<p>The evolution of intelligent life is rare, extremely rare.  So rare that the rate per galaxy is well below 1.0 per 13 billion years.  If FTL is possible then the Fermi Paradox requires that the rate of evolution of intelligent life is about once in 13 billion years per universe.  That means we are alone in the entire universe.</p>
<p>Prove me wrong with evidence, not conjecture.  Don&#8217;t tell me what &#8220;we all know to be true&#8221; especially all you atheists, because you won&#8217;t accept that argument for the existence of God.</p>

	<h4>Related posts</h4>
	<ul class="st-related-posts">
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/more-ideas-on-the-fermi-paradox/" title="More ideas on the Fermi Paradox (June 21, 2009)">More ideas on the Fermi Paradox</a> (5)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/commentary/fermis-paradox/" title="Fermis Paradox (June 19, 2008)">Fermis Paradox</a> (2)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/yet-another-answer-to-the-fermi-paradox/" title="Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox (February 3, 2009)">Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox</a> (0)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/where-are-the-aliens/" title="Where are the aliens? (October 20, 2009)">Where are the aliens?</a> (3)</li>
</ul>

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		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Have physicists discovered alien life?</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/uncategorized/have-physicists-discovered-alien-life/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/uncategorized/have-physicists-discovered-alien-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2009 03:13:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aliens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[element]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fermi paradox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nucleosynthesis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sentient Species]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[time travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.spacetimestories.com/?p=412</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Work published in 2008 from Israel claims detection of element #122.  If true the implications are stunning.  The only possible method of generating element 122 is by artificial nucleosynthesis, a technical feat beyond the capability of modern day humans.
While subsequent study may have disproven the theory this opens up a new method of proving the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Work <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13828-has-the-heaviest-element-been-found.html" target="_blank">published in 2008</a> from Israel claims detection of element #122.  If true the implications are stunning.  The only possible method of generating element 122 is by artificial nucleosynthesis, a technical feat beyond the capability of modern day humans.</p>
<p>While subsequent study may have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbibium" target="_blank">disproven the theory</a> this opens up a new method of proving the existence of aliens.  Even a single atom of element 122 (or higher) would be an artifact proving the existence of alien life&#8230;</p>
<p>Or time travel, it&#8217;s always possible that in the future human will make the element and then send back in time either coincidentally or as an actual component of the time machine.</p>
<p>Regular readers of my blog know that I propose there are no aliens anywhere and never have been.  So if element 122 is really discovered I claim it&#8217;s proof of time travel, not aliens.</p>

	<h4>Related posts</h4>
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	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/yet-another-answer-to-the-fermi-paradox/" title="Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox (February 3, 2009)">Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox</a> (0)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/where-are-the-aliens/" title="Where are the aliens? (October 20, 2009)">Where are the aliens?</a> (3)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/more-ideas-on-the-fermi-paradox/" title="More ideas on the Fermi Paradox (June 21, 2009)">More ideas on the Fermi Paradox</a> (5)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/commentary/fermis-paradox/" title="Fermis Paradox (June 19, 2008)">Fermis Paradox</a> (2)</li>
</ul>

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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Scifi Optimists versus Scifi Pessimists</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/commentary/scifi-optimists-versus-scifi-pessimists/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/commentary/scifi-optimists-versus-scifi-pessimists/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:19:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[optimists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[overpopulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ozone hole]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pessimists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scifi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sunspots]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Scifi pessimists say &#8211; we&#8217;ll never be able to feed 8 billion people.
Scifi optimists invent algae which can fix nitrogen from the air, generate fertilizer, and live in a symbiotic relationship with roots of food plants in airborne greenhouses.
Scifi pessimists say &#8211; global warming will kill us all.
Scifi optimists invent CO2 scavenging algae which generate [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Scifi pessimists say &#8211; we&#8217;ll never be able to feed 8 billion people.</p>
<p>Scifi optimists invent algae which can fix nitrogen from the air, generate fertilizer, and live in a symbiotic relationship with roots of food plants in airborne greenhouses.</p>
<p>Scifi pessimists say &#8211; global warming will kill us all.</p>
<p>Scifi optimists invent CO2 scavenging algae which generate carbon nanotube filaments used for building space elevators.</p>
<p>Scifi pessimists say &#8211; the sunspots won&#8217;t come back and we&#8217;ll all freeze in another ice age.</p>
<p>Scifi optimists invent CO2 storage bins which absorb or release tons of CO2 every day for precision climate control.</p>
<p>Scifi pessimists say the ozone layer will disappear and we&#8217;ll all fry.</p>
<p>Scifi optimists invent airborne ozone replenishing units staffed by extremely attractive people.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s too bad there are so few scifi optimists.</p>

	<h4>Related posts</h4>
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		<title>Darwinism and the Fermi Paradox</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/darwinism-and-the-fermi-paradox/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/darwinism-and-the-fermi-paradox/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:45:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[fermi paradox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Darwinism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[evolution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[galaxy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intelligent life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SETI]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.spacetimestories.com/?p=387</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For those who might misinterpret my prior comments on Darwinism here&#8217;s a clarification.
The philosophy of Darwinism leads many people to use the word &#8220;paradox&#8221; to describe the lack of alien visitors.  They all &#8220;know&#8221; that the evolution of sentient life is easy, so facile, that the Milky Way &#8220;must be&#8221; teaming with intelligent life. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For those who might misinterpret my <a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/more-ideas-on-the-fermi-paradox/" target="_blank">prior comments</a> on Darwinism here&#8217;s a clarification.</p>
<p>The philosophy of Darwinism leads many people to use the word &#8220;paradox&#8221; to describe the lack of alien visitors.  They all &#8220;know&#8221; that the evolution of sentient life is easy, so facile, that the Milky Way &#8220;must be&#8221; teaming with intelligent life.  Therefore the lack of alien visitors to Earth is a paradox.</p>
<p>So here&#8217;s the real science.  There is no evidence that any aliens have ever visited our solar system.  There is no evidence of artificial constructions in any solar system, star cluster, or interstellar location in the Milky Way.  There is no evidence of any artificial construction in any galaxy we can see.  There is no SETI signal, there is nothing.</p>
<p>The overall statistics of these observations lead to the following conclusion: the evolution of sentient space faring species is so rare that we might be the only one in the entire universe.  The implications for Darwinism are devastating.  While the evolution of bacteria might be trivial, and every solar system in the entire universe might contain primitive life, the evolution of intelligent life appears to be nearly impossible.</p>
<p>For over 10 billion years our Milky Way has been easily capable of supporting space faring explorers.  Robotic spacecraft could explore the entire galaxy in about 100 million years.  If they aren&#8217;t here yet this means they waited at least 99% of the life of the galaxy before starting.  Why did they wait?  Statistically it&#8217;s possible that we are the first, or one of the first, and nobody has been around long enough to explore the entire galaxy: statistically possible, and highly improbable.  Either every single species has an impediment to building robotic exploration craft (remember it only takes one) or there aren&#8217;t any.</p>
<p>For 10 billion years no extra-galactic species has constructed an object visible from Earth.  Perhaps such structures are impossible.  I doubt it.  This is evidence that there are no aliens in other galaxies.</p>
<p>I claim there aren&#8217;t any aliens anywhere in the entire universe, we are alone, and there is no evidence to the contrary.  Many people have speculations, deeply held beliefs about Darwinism, Drake equations, planetary search data, &#8230; but in the end these speculations are irrelevant.  Visual observation is all that counts.</p>
<p>So the implications for Darwinism are this, the rate of evolution of intelligent space faring species is about once per universe per 13 billion years.  It appears there are millions or billions of planets/galaxy capable of supporting an evolving ecosystem.  So for any given planet in the entire universe the chance of evolution of intelligent life is about 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1.</p>
<p>We didn&#8217;t beat the odds, we just had the winning lottery ticket.  If you bought 100 million lottery tickets you would not be surprised to find that one of them had the winning numbers.  Out of billions of planets ours held the winning ticket in the Darwinian lottery.</p>

	<h4>Related posts</h4>
	<ul class="st-related-posts">
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/more-ideas-on-the-fermi-paradox/" title="More ideas on the Fermi Paradox (June 21, 2009)">More ideas on the Fermi Paradox</a> (5)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/commentary/fermis-paradox/" title="Fermis Paradox (June 19, 2008)">Fermis Paradox</a> (2)</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/yet-another-answer-to-the-fermi-paradox/" title="Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox (February 3, 2009)">Yet another answer to the Fermi Paradox</a> (0)</li>
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</ul>

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		<title>More ideas on the Fermi Paradox</title>
		<link>http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/more-ideas-on-the-fermi-paradox/</link>
		<comments>http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/more-ideas-on-the-fermi-paradox/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:47:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sean</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[fermi paradox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aliens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Darwinism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[evolution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fermi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[galaxy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Milky Way]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[robots]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SETI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[statistics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.spacetimestories.com/?p=376</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Many recent blog posts continue to try to explain the Fermi Paradox.  I&#8217;ll try to explain why these writers just don&#8217;t get it.
http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog/posts/the-fermi-paradox/
http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_9.html
http://www.entangledstates.org/2009/06/where-are-they-another-solution-to-fermis-paradox.html
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23604/
http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndata/index.php?/archives/1796-Alternative-solutions-to-the-Fermi-paradox.html
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0408521v1
Many people still are confused on several points about the Fermi Paradox.  Let&#8217;s start with the name.
The word paradox is used because everyone &#8220;knows&#8221; it&#8217;s a &#8220;fact&#8221; that there are countless intelligent aliens [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Many recent blog posts continue to try to explain the Fermi Paradox.  I&#8217;ll try to explain why these writers just don&#8217;t get it.</p>
<p><a href="http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog/posts/the-fermi-paradox/" target="_self">http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog/posts/the-fermi-paradox/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_9.html" target="_blank">http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_9.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.entangledstates.org/2009/06/where-are-they-another-solution-to-fermis-paradox.html" target="_blank">http://www.entangledstates.org/2009/06/where-are-they-another-solution-to-fermis-paradox.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23604/" target="_blank">http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23604/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndata/index.php?/archives/1796-Alternative-solutions-to-the-Fermi-paradox.html" target="_blank">http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndata/index.php?/archives/1796-Alternative-solutions-to-the-Fermi-paradox.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0408521v1" target="_blank">http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0408521v1</a></p>
<p>Many people still are confused on several points about the Fermi Paradox.  Let&#8217;s start with the name.</p>
<p>The word paradox is used because everyone &#8220;knows&#8221; it&#8217;s a &#8220;fact&#8221; that there are countless intelligent aliens in our galaxy, despite the fact that none of them have made any obvious contact with humans or visits to Earth.  The use of the word &#8220;paradox&#8221; is sloppy pseudoscience.  We don&#8217;t know, in fact pure empiricism suggests we know the opposite.  The complete lack of evidence of aliens in our galaxy is overwhelming evidence that we are alone.  The phrase &#8220;Fermi Paradox&#8221; has become so ingrained that it is almost a single word, and it will be difficult to eliminate it.  So I&#8217;ll keep using it even though I&#8217;m convinced there is no paradox.</p>
<p>The reason so many people believe in this &#8220;fact&#8221; is pure and simple.  Darwinism has blinded us to objective science.  We all &#8220;know&#8221; Darwinism is true, and we &#8220;know&#8221; that it&#8217;s &#8220;easy&#8221; for intelligent life to evolve.  Therefore we cannot possibly be alone.  Let&#8217;s try to be scientists on this topic.  Regardless of your opinion on Darwinism, the obvious evidence is that we are alone.</p>
<p>There is no evidence of intelligent alien life anywhere within or without our galaxy.  Look around, and specifically look at other galaxies.  We have excellent images of roughly 10,000 galaxies.  Not one of them shows an artificial construction.  Assuming each galaxy is 10 billion years old, that means that not once in 1e14 galaxy-years has an alien race built a galactic superstructure, visible from our galaxy.  Not once.  How can any scientist look at this evidence and claim anything other than &#8220;humans are alone&#8221; ?</p>
<p>And let&#8217;s be clear, the existence of alien bacteria on a rock orbiting Alpha Centauri has nothing to do with this discussion.  I could not care less if every star in this galaxy has primordial life, or even highly evolved tool makers.  This is only about intelligent, sentient, technologically advanced space-faring civilizations.  Bacteria are irrelevant.</p>
<p>Another point of confusion is the difference between &#8220;manned&#8221; exploration of the galaxy versus robotic exploration.  Frequently bloggers cannot distinguish between these.  They say that there are not enough aliens to staff the exploration ships, therefore the exploration of the galaxy will be a lot slower than &#8220;commonly&#8221; accepted.  Again they &#8220;know&#8221; that aliens would probably not send out self-replicating robots to explore the galaxy.</p>
<p>The fact is that even one self-replicating robotic exploration craft would find every solar system in our galaxy in a matter of 100 million years.  That means that for the first few billion years of the existence of the Milky Way no sentient race has built automated exploration craft.  Or does it?</p>
<p>A statistical analysis of the evolution of humans from self-replicating RNA demonstrates that evolution is wrong.  There are too many permutations available which lead to dead ends.  Two billion years on a single planet is not enough time for all the dead ends to be explored.  The current theory of Darwinism requires that life &#8220;randomly&#8221; chose a viable path 99% of the time, instead of a dead end.  Most mutations don&#8217;t work, they result in dead babies, or sterility, or severe biochemical imbalances.  Yet evolution on Earth has mysteriously chosen a viable living mutant baby most of the time.  What an amazing coincidence !</p>
<p>But what if we combine statistics with the Fermi Paradox?  Suppose our galaxy has seen the existence of 1-2 intelligent species that built self-replicating robots.  And instead of hardware, the primary substance of those self-replicating robots is biological?  Suppose that instead of 2 billion years on one planet, evolution has really had 10 billion years on a million planets.  Now the statistics make sense, now we no longer need a miracle of statistics to explain our own biology.</p>
<p>So here&#8217;s the resolution of the Fermi &#8220;Paradox&#8221;.  In the Milky Way (a few million planets over the past few billion years) intelligent life evolved once (or maybe 2-3 times).  That species built self-replicating biological explorers which seeded the galaxy.  We are the result.  Humans are either direct products of alien robotic exploration craft, or we are the first and only intelligent species to evolve in the entire universe.</p>
<p>I prefer the second, I say that the rate of evolution of intelligent life in the Milky Way is about once per 13 billion years.  So prove me wrong, with evidence.  Real evidence.  And don&#8217;t waste my time talking about what we &#8220;know to be true&#8221;.</p>

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	<li><a href="http://www.spacetimestories.com/fermi-paradox/atheists-and-the-fermi-paradox/" title="Atheists and the Fermi Paradox (September 20, 2009)">Atheists and the Fermi Paradox</a> (9)</li>
</ul>

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