8/26/2015 Y'all gon' learn today. Album on Imgur

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by PlutoForPresident2016 · 6 months ago

So, we all love space here, right?

I mean, of course we do. Especially me. Look at my username for crying out loud. And what do we associate with space? Aliens! Or rather, ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence. We can assume we're out there we WANT them to be, for a variety of reasons.

TL;DR for this post: Aliens. Aliens everywhere.

So why haven't we heard from them? Our signals have gotten pretty far out,and

Y'all gon' learn today.

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Y'all gon' learn today.6 months ago · 2,110 viewsby PlutoForPresident2016

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8/26/2015 Y'all gon' learn today. Album on Imgur

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Oh. I guess not. Damn, that really puts things in perspective. Bah, whatever. I'm going on anyways. It's time to talk about the FERMI PARADOX!!!!

For the uninitiated, the Fermi Paradox (FP, for the sake of initialism) is the brilliant and extensive theory laying out all the possibilities for E.T. Seriously ALL of them. This thing does. Not. End. But do I care? No! This is science! The actual kind not the imgur kind.

Let's use Planet X as an example.

If X is 8 billion years older than us, we can assume for the sake of the Paradox that any inhabitants are that far ahead of us. Let's be real. Technology one *thousand* years ahead of us will be pretty rad. Technology several *billions* of years? The fuck outta here.

It's been said there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand onPlanet Earth

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The actual number is about ten thousand (10,000) stars per grain. That's a freakin' buttload of stars. In fact, it gets better. There are as many galaxies in the observable universe alone as there are stars in OUR FREAKING GALAXY. I don't know about you, but my mind = blown.

Let's do some math. With a grand total of 100 billion stars in the Milky Way (that's a conservative figure, by the way) there are 100 billion galaxies. So 100,000,000,000^2 is 10^22. THAT'S A ONE WITH TWENTYTWO ZEROS. With that number of stars, we estimate that five to twenty percent of them are "sunlike." For this post, we'll use mostly the low end of the scales to keep things simple. So, 5% of 10^22 gives us a grand total of five.

...hundred billion billion, or 500 quintillion.

WE NEED TO GO DEEPER

The ongoing debate is how many earthlike planets there are. The smart sciencey people guesstimate that anywhere from 2050% of sunlike stars have earthlike planets. Take twenty percent of 500 quintillion and what do you get? 100 billion billion. For every grain of sand, there are one hundred planets that could support life as we know it.

I'll speed things up here. If only one percent of these planets hosts intelligent life, then we have ten million billion races in the observable universe, and upwards of one hundred thousand advanced civilizations spread out over 1,000,000,000 planets in our own galaxy. Hi, neighbors!!

There are three types of civilizations.

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A Type 1: The race has harnessed all energy afforded to them by their home world. That's pretty cool, considering Humans aren't even a T1 yet. Come on, guys. Get your shit together.

A Type 2: Like the example pictured above, a T2 has somehow been able to access the complete energy of their host star. Noice.

A Type 3: The big kahuna of the universe. A Type 3 civilization has transcended known limitations and can utilize power supplies equal to the Milky Way galaxy. That'll fry your iPhone for sure. Or charge your Nokia in about half an hour.

Hello, darkness, my old friend.

8/26/2015 Y'all gon' learn today. Album on Imgur

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Wait, wait, wait. There are a whole lotta planets out there. Shouldn't at least SOME of them be galaxyconquering T3s by now?

Yes. About a thousand civilizations, using the established model, would be T3s.

So we'd be hearing them, right? That's a whole lotta ruckus to go undetected, even if they have hyperadvanced technology.

This is where the Fermi Paradox kicks in. Remember that original question why haven't we heard from them yet? There are almost as many explanations, it seems, as intelligent civilizations. So I'm gonna start off with the basics. "“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” (Arthur C. Clarke)

Let's start off with: We are alone. At least, with regards to intelligent races.

Yaaay! More subtheories. WHY are we alone? What makes us ahead of the curve? There are three possibilities, and all of them are tied to an event called, "The Great Filter," which weeds out great civilizations from the rest.

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The Great Filter is dust in the wind.

The first possibility is that we are beyond the Filter. Perhaps the GF is the jump from simple prokaryotes to eukaryotic life. Maybe its the formation of life itself. Whatever the Great Filter was, it could be that we're beyond it and the rest of the universe is still struggling with it.

The Great Filter is nonexistant.

Ok, this goes against what I said just a minute ago, but just roll with it. Here's the gist of it: humans are evolving when we are because the universe is just now entering an era where life can form to T1 levels. We simply are leading the charge and are becoming one of the first great civilizations.

The Great Filter is ahead of us.

DundunDUUUUNNNN!!!!

Well, this is a bit intimidating to think about. Maybe the GF is an evolutionary stage that Homo Sapiens have yet to enter. It could also be a natural cataclysm, like a gamma burst that eliminates all life on Earth or any such event.

Astrobiologists say that silence is golden right now. Mars is the example used. If we find simple life on the Red Planet, it means the Great Filter is not an earlyon occurrence that we've already overcome. On the other hand, if we find the remains of complex life, it means

8/26/2015 Y'all gon' learn today. Album on Imgur

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the GF is certainly looming over us. Right now, the best we can do is pray that humanity is past the Filter.

On to the exciting stuff.

Imagine the headlines: "Martians invade!" "E.T. Comes to Earth!" "United Nations Prepares for Alien Contact!"

These and more are what we'll see when we discover that extraterrestrial intelligence is out there. And if they're out there, we need to explain why they've been silent for most of history. There are ten theories here; buckle up, kiddos, 'cause I'm gonna hit them all.

1) Aliens were here before

Ever watch Ancient Aliens? You get the idea. But for the uninitiated, the AA Theory dictates that early humans, not advanced ones, were the ones that had contact with extraterrestrials.

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2) They've colonized the rest of the galaxy

Basically, they've colonized the entire galaxy (or parts of it) but have left our area alone, presumably because there isn't anything here to make colonization worth the effort.

3) They simply aren't exploring and claiming new worlds

They could see it as unnecessary, or barbaric. Perhaps even living in a physical world is beyond them, and they've evolved beyond organic life and live in a virtual reality.

4) There are predatory cultures

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It sounds crazy, I know, but it isn't impossible! There could be a type of "predator" civilizations that keep the other races down

5) There is a "superpredator" race

This theory states that there is one hyperadvanced civilization that listens for signs of advancing races (*cough* *cough* humans *cough*) and eliminates them before they can pose a threat. Not cool, guys. Not cool.

6) We can't understand their signals

Simple enough. After all, we can assume that they've developed new means of communication if they're spread throughout the galaxy. Makes sense that we wouldn't be able to decipher their transmissions.

7) The government is hiding the evidence

911 was an inside job. Ron Paul for President.

the n word

8) The Zoo hypothesis

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We all know and love the Zoo Hypothesis. We're just some primitive species in an enclosure and some higher life form is observing us for his Master's Thesis. I can dig it.

9) Aliens exist in a way we can't comprehend

Dr. Michio Kaku has the best explanation for this idea. If we build a 10lane freeway next to an anthill, will that ants understand what's happening? Would they comprehend the significance of the structure being erected beside them? No, probably not. They'd just go about their business, never the wiser.

10) We're wrong about this whole darn thing called "life"

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8/26/2015 Y'all gon' learn today. Album on Imgur

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Guys, when it comes down to it, we're just some fancy looking primates that know how to speak different languages and look up at the sky. We've done a lot of great things, but we don't know everything about the universe. In fact, we know very, very little.

That's why I love science so damn much. It never ends. We could study for thousands of years, devote our best minds to the problems surrounding us, and still be dumb as hell. Never skimp out, friends. Never be intimidated by the grandness of the universe, and be grateful for your capacity to study, theorize, and intellectually evolve.

Crazyometer: 01

Confession Bear Time

So, yeah. That says it all. I wanted to give you guys some easyaccess to the science that I love, so I made this post to help accomplish that.

The Fermi Paradox is some pretty incredible stuff. But don't take my word for it. If you want to read the original article, you can find it at http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermiparadox.html

O x t 2,110 views71 points

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+djevilz 11 points : 3 replies : 6 months ago reply

This ... this was a brilliant piece of writing. Gave me instant chills!http://i.imgur.com/gqHcltR.png

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+ActualCannibalShia 5 points : 1 reply : 6 months ago reply

I feel like I learned a lot but what was the paradox part of it?O

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+screwielouis 3 points : 1 reply : 6 months ago reply

+1 for science... and justice coz your post was blatantly copied and made FPO

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UonlyThinkyourDead 2 points : 6 months ago reply

Such science,+1O

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kingv360 2 points : 6 months ago reply

http://i.imgur.com/ZXG9wRV.gifO

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+maskedthornforlife 2 points : 1 reply : 6 months ago reply

Is that title a ref to Kev Hart......because......if so.....i get it.....O

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+EnnryIggins 2 points : 1 reply : 6 months ago reply

I watch a lot of NDT, and one thing he said that struck me compared our 1% differenceto chimps with a 1% difference between us and 1/2

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+WeAreMadeOfStarDust 2 points : 1 reply : 6 months ago reply

I'm relevant!O

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+Forere 2 points : 1 reply : 6 months ago reply

I feel like I learned something.O

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+catcherintherye 0 points : 3 replies : 6 months ago reply

This is so 1980. Go to YouTube Sirius Disclosure. Extraordinary evidence already exists.They are already here.

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