If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens … WHERE IS EVERYBODY?: Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life
by Stephen Webb
In a 1950 conversation at Los Alamos, four world-class scientists generally agreed, given the size of the Universe, that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations must be present. But one of the four, Enrico Fermi, asked, “If these civilizations do exist, where is everybody?” Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 million stars in our Galaxy alone, and perhaps 400 million galaxies in the Universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the 14 billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. Webb discusses in detail the 50 most cogent and intriguing solutions to Fermi’s famous paradox.
A few real reviews for the book on Amazon:
Science and science fiction collide to pose answers to a fundamental question about our universe
If the universe is so old and so big, shouldn’t there have been ample opportunities for other solar systems, planets, life forms, intelligence, and technology to form? Some these civilizations must be millions of years older than us on Earth, so surely should have developed the capability to communicate and travel through from star to star and galaxy to galaxy. But we haven’t heard from or seen anybody else. Where is everybody?
This a big and provocative question that has scientific, philosophical, and religious implications. Webb breaks the question down by posing 50 possible solutions to this paradox. He brings in concepts from physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, history, geology, science fiction, sociology, cognition, and engineering. To think about this question involves the combination of so many disciplines, and that’s why it’s so very intriguing. Not only that, our best answers are at the frontiers of most of these fields of knowledge. So, in this book you get a whirlwind tour of the biggest thinking, cutting edge, and open questions in so many different areas. I recommend this book to science lovers and science fiction lovers.
