The search for extraterrestrial life has been intriguing the human civilization for many years and the massive spread of the universe and galactic bodies in it imply that intelligent life forms could possibly exist on a distant planet. The Fermi Paradox implies that humanity is the sole living intelligent life form in the Milky Way galaxy or probably the universe. The Fermi Paradox has been addressed by various solutions such as aliens are hiding or they have entered into suspended animation waiting for the arrival of favorable conditions to come alive and some solutions imply that the aliens have blown themselves up.
Researchers at the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford University have suggested that intelligent life outside of Earth does not exist at all and humans are alone in this universe. The researchers submitted a paper to the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London which is titled as ‘Dissolving the Fermi Paradox’. The researchers stated that there is sufficient amount of ex-ante probability regarding the lack of any other intelligent life in the visible universe thereby implying the fact that there is no need to ponder over the fate of aliens.
The Fermi Paradox was developed from a question asked by Enrico Fermi during a lunch at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the state of New Mexico in 1950. Fermi posed the question ‘Where is everyone?’ during a discussion among a group of scientists on a New Yorker cartoon that depicted aliens emerging from a spaceship into the streets of New York City. Since then, many attempts have been made for addressing Fermi’s question, the majority of which are based on the Drake equation. The Drake equation has multiple unknowns albeit suggesting the plausibility of many detectable alien civilizations roaming the Milky Way.
The Drake equation comprises seven factors whose probability could explain the existence of alien life. The equation could be presented as follows.
N = R* fp ne fl fi fc L
The variables imply that,
N is the number of total detectable alien civilizations in the Milky Way
R* is the annual rate of star formation
FP is the fraction of stars with planets
ne is the habitable planets for every system with planets
fl is the fraction of habitable planets with life
fi is the fraction of planets with life that are capable of developing intelligence
FC is the fraction of intelligent alien civilizations that could be contacted or detected
L is the average longevity of detectable civilizations
In the new study, various probabilities were implemented in the equation rather than assigning singular values to the variables that led to the higher possibilities of us being alone in the galaxy as compared to the previously assumed values. The authors of the research affirmed that the possibilities of humans existing alone in our galaxy range from 53% to 99.6% and 39% to 85% in the case of the observable universe.
