4 ms·

Why should we favour the first one? Imagine our best understanding of cosmology suggested that some interstellar object, which we'll call "foobars" for the sak

Why should we favour the first one? Imagine our best understanding of cosmology suggested that some interstellar object, which we'll call "foobars" for the sake of this argument, existed in high amounts. However, we weren't totally certain that foobars existed, or exactly what they would look like if they did. In this case, when we discovered a new, weird and unexplainable phenomenon, would there really much pushback when somebody proposed that foobars might be the cause? Well, according to the Fermi Paradox[1], there's seems to be a very good chance, statistically speaking, that alien life is common in our galaxy. So, when a phenomenon is observed with highly unusual characteristics, why should an alien origin be considered unlikely or fringe explanation? I think people dismissing or diminishing the possibility of an alien explanation should also be required to provide a reasonable, evidence-based explanation for the Fermi Paradox. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

gus_massa 8y ago
> Why should we favour the first one? If confirmed, which of the following two will get to the first page of all newspapers in the world: * Scientists find a rock in space * Scientists find a alien starship in space The "default" selection is the other, unless someone provides overwhelming evidence. > In this case, when we discovered a new, weird and unexplainable phenomenon, It's probably a rock with some ice. > Well, according to the Fermi Paradox, The Fermi paradox starts from the assumption that we should expect a big number of advanced civilization in the Milky Way, but we really don't have the smallest cue about how the number should be. We have a estimations from millions of millions to much less than one. We just don't know. We only know that we didn't find an alien civilization yet. We didn't even find alien life yet. So you can't use the Fermi paradox as a proof or supporting evidence that an unknown object has alien origin.

gus_massa 8y ago

> Why should we favour the first one? If confirmed, which of the following two will get to the first page of all newspapers in the world: * Scientists find a rock in space * Scientists find a alien starship in space The "default" selection is the other, unless someone provides overwhelming evidence. > In this case, when we discovered a new, weird and unexplainable phenomenon, It's probably a rock with some ice. > Well, according to the Fermi Paradox, The Fermi paradox starts from the assumption that we should expect a big number of advanced civilization in the Milky Way, but we really don't have the smallest cue about how the number should be. We have a estimations from millions of millions to much less than one. We just don't know. We only know that we didn't find an alien civilization yet. We didn't even find alien life yet. So you can't use the Fermi paradox as a proof or supporting evidence that an unknown object has alien origin.