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About this quote

What does it mean?
This question highlights the paradox of why we haven’t detected intelligent life despite the high probability it exists.
In plain terms
If aliens are so likely, where are they?
What can you take from it?
It challenges our assumptions about extraterrestrial life.

Where it applies

  • discussions on space
  • scientific debates
  • philosophical inquiry

Putting it to work

  • frame research goals
  • stimulate curiosity
  • guide search strategies

Questions to consider

  • What evidence would satisfy you?
  • How do we define detectability?

Another view

It assumes life is common or detectable which may not be true.

More from Enrico Fermi

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  2. I cannot think of a single one, not even intelligence.

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  3. Although the problem of transmuting chemical elements into each other is much older than a satisfactory definition of the very concept of chemical element, it …

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