Cosmology, Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and a Resolution of the Fermi-Hart Paradox
Abstract
Cosmological constraints are considered on receiving signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. Attention is given especially to the argument, sometimes called the Fermi-Hart paradox, that extraterrestrials do not exist because no evidence of them is seen and no signals from them are received, even though the presence of life on earth might seem to imply its presence elsewhere. Evidence is reviewed which indicates that life in the universe may be sparse. If this is so, the nearest civilization could be beyond the cosmological (particle) horizon, and therefore unable to communicate with earth. This is a cosmological resolution of the Fermi-Hart paradox, which if valid implies that extraterrestrials exist but cannot be contacted.
- Publication:
-
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- June 1990
- Bibcode:
- 1990QJRAS..31..161W
- Keywords:
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- Cosmology;
- Extraterrestrial Intelligence;
- Project Seti;
- Signal Detection;
- Sky Surveys (Astronomy);
- Space Sciences (General)