The Fermi paradox boils down to a simple question: where is everybody? In other words, if we’re not alone in the universe, then why haven’t we seen any evidence for aliens yet? To date, there is no consensus resolution to the Fermi Paradox…and we still have no evidence for aliens.
Who Came Up With the Fermi Paradox?
Lore has it that in the summer of 1950, famed Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi was out to lunch one day with some friends and colleagues. The conversation turned to talk of UFO sightings, space travel, and alien civilization. In response to the conversation, Fermi simply blurted out “But where is everybody?”
After further calculations to back up his original interjection, this statement came to be known the Fermi paradox in his honor. If the universe is full of advanced alien civilizations, then we should have ample evidence for their existence by now. Instead, we have found absolutely nothing, and for all intents and purposes the cosmos is empty of life.
