Fermi paradox

odditiesanalysisWikipedia1950 · Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

Fermi paradox

the gist

The Fermi paradox is the puzzle of why, if the universe is so large and old, we see no clear sign of other civilisations. There are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy alone, and many may have planets that could support life. Yet no confirmed signals or visits have been found. The question takes its name from the physicist Enrico Fermi, who asked it casually over lunch at Los Alamos in 1950. Proposed answers include that intelligent life is extremely rare, that civilisations die out quickly, or that they exist but we cannot detect them. Each explanation has supporters, and none has been proven.

how it works

Estimates of habitable planets are very large, and the universe is billions of years old, so civilisations should have had time to spread or signal. The silence therefore suggests one of several things: life is rare, technological phases are brief, or detection is harder than assumed.

so what

The paradox frames one of the biggest open questions in science and shapes how researchers search for life beyond Earth. Whatever the answer, it says something about our own future and our chances of being noticed.

the bigger pattern

Early versions of the question appeared in Fontenelle's 1686 writing and Jules Verne's 1865 novel, and Carl Sagan put it in print in 1963. The question has persisted because each generation of telescopes has found more planets without finding any signals.

fun fact

Colleague Emil Konopinski remembered Fermi's question as "But where is everybody?", blurted out after the lunchtime conversation had already moved on.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗