Fermi Paradox Reasserts Itself 01/23/2010 Jan 23, 2010 — Paul Davies, no stranger to facing difficult questions and proposing imaginative solutions, is coming out with a new book in April about SETI. In it, he tackles the Fermi Paradox: if aliens are out there, why haven’t they dropped by yet? Amazon.comlists some of the ideas to be presented inThe Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence: “The author surveys popular topics in science fiction such as Dyson spheres, time travel, and wormholes, anddecides that they’re not feasible under physics as we understand it. He concludes with a far-ranging look at what might happen here on Earth when we make first contact.” Speaking of first contact, Davies chairs the “SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup,” which must be an interesting job, considering the subject matter remains hypothetical. What does it pay? Davies feels that “SETI has lost its edgeand offers a new and exciting road map for the future.” The product description continues, “Davies believes our search so far has beenoverly anthropocentric: we tend toassume an alien species will look, think, and behave like us. He argues that weneed to be far more expansive in our efforts, and in this book he completely redefines the search,challenging existing ideasof what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if it does.”
Robert Crowther atEvolution Newshas a suggestion for Davies. Just read Meyer’sSignature in the Cell“about the evidence for intelligent design that booms out of DNA right here on this planet.” And if he wants to be less anthropocentric, why not consider angels, demons, or God? Isn’t that being “far more expansive in our efforts?” Expand your personal search into the Gideon Bible in the hotel room drawer.
[2010/01/23] Fermi Paradox Reasserts Itself
