Related papers: "First in, last out" solution to the Fermi Paradox
We present an elementary proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. No ancillary results are used, not even the most basic ones. The proof directly leads to a contradiction of the Fermat equation in the set of integers.
The METI risk problem refers to the uncertain outcome of sending transmissions into space with the intention of messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence (METI). Here, I demonstrate that this uncertainty is undecidable by proving that that…
Each of the individual factors of the Drake Equation is considered. Each in turn is either abandoned or redefined and finally reduced to a single new factor, fd, the fraction of technological life that is detectable by any means. However,…
It is shown that space travel, even in the most distant future, will remain confined to our own planetary system, and a similar conclusion will hold forth for any other civilization, no matter how advanced it might be, unless those…
In the 20th century the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence began, and the Drake equation was proposed to estimate the number of extraterrestrial species humanity could attempt to detect, N. This paper discusses the need to…
This paper develops a detailed quantitative model which uses the Drake equation and an assumption of an average maximum radio broadcasting distance by an communicative civilization to derive a minimum civilization density for contact…
Ambitious civilizations that expand for resources at an intergalactic scale could be observable from a cosmological distance, but how likely is one to be visible to us? The question comes down to estimating the appearance rate of such…
Analyzing decision problems under uncertainty commonly relies on idealizing assumptions about the describability of the world, with the most prominent examples being the closed world and the small world assumption. Most assumptions are…
The best known manifestation of the Fermi-Dirac statistics is the Pauli exclusion principle: no two identical fermions can occupy the same one-particle state. This principle enforces high order correlations in systems of many identical…
The discovery of the Fermi bubbles---a huge bilobular structure seen in GeV gamma-rays above and below the Galactic center---implies the presence of a large reservoir of high energy particles at $\sim 10 \, \text{kpc}$ from the disk. The…
Given a sufficiently large universe, numerous civilizations almost surely exist. Some of these civilizations will be short-lived and die out relatively early in their development, i.e., before having the chance to spread to other planets.…
Typicality arguments attempt to use the Copernican Principle to draw conclusions about the cosmos and presently unknown conscious beings within it, including extraterrestrial intelligences (ETI). The most notorious is the Doomsday Argument,…
In this paper we address the cosmic frequency of technological species. Recent advances in exoplanet studies provide strong constraints on all astrophysical terms in the Drake Equation. Using these and modifying the form and intent of the…
A study is made of the behavior of unstable states in simple models which nevertheless are realistic representations of situations occurring in nature. It is demonstrated that a non-exponential decay pattern will ultimately dominate decay…
Whether the fate of our species can be forecast from its past has been the topic of considerable controversy. One refutation of the so-called Doomsday Argument is based on the premise that we are more likely to exist in a universe…
The recently developed proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is very lengthy and difficult, so much so as to be beyond all but a small body of specialists. While certainly of value in the developments that resulted, that proof could not be, nor…
Extraterrestrial technology may exist in the Solar System without our knowledge. This is because the vastness of space, combined with our limited searches to date, implies that any remote unpiloted exploratory probes of extraterrestrial…
Our knowledge of the Universe remains discovery-led: in the absence of adequate physics-based theory, interpretation of new results requires a scientific methodology. Commonly, scientific progress in astrophysics is motivated by the…
Can scientific discovery be made arbitrarily easy by choosing the right representation, collecting enough data, and deploying sufficiently powerful algorithms? This paper argues that the answer is fundamentally negative. We introduce the…
In order to check finite propagation speed Fermi, in 1932, had considered two atoms A and B separated by some distance R. At time t=0, A is in an excited state, B in its ground state, and no photons are present. Fermi's idea was to…