Humans alone in universe, depressing study finds

A new study from the Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) at Oxford University, aptly named "Dissolving the Fermi Paradox," suggests that humanity is alone in the observable universe, putting a damper on the theory that there is intelligent life somewhere in the known universe.

"When the model is recast to represent realistic distributions of uncertainty, we find a substantial ex ante probability of there being no other intelligent life in our observable universe, and thus that there should be little surprise when we fail to detect any signs of it," the study's abstract reads. "This result dissolves the Fermi paradox..."

Humans alone in universe, depressing study finds

Sounds to me like the authors of this study are making plenty of assumptions of their own, but then again with something like the Drake Equation, you pretty much have to inject speculation if you're going to get anywhere. It's otherwise an essentially unsolvable equation.

I've always thought that if we are indeed the only intelligent life in the universe, that the likelihood of 'God' actually existing and having created Earth and humanity in his image goes up dramatically. If, however, we find intelligent life elsewhere, then religion is, for all intents and purposes, dead, as that would prove that intelligent life is a natural phenomenon throughout the universe. If we're really all there is though...well... then I think I should probably start going back to church!

a reply to: Subsonic

I don't believe it for a minute

I give this study the finger, and politely disagree.

a reply to: Subsonic

I challenge these "scientists" to prove that.

What makes us so special to be the only life in the universe?

There's nothing on Earth that can't be find in some other planet in a different solar system.

The problem is the universe is way too big and we are just ants trying to figure out what the world is.

It should be prohibited to use the word “study” in articles and papers when the topic at hand can not be studied.


It’s just a lie. From liars. Atop a throne of lies.

I trust this study about as much as I do the ones on climate change. Mathematically speaking it is statistically unlikely we are alone.

a reply to: Subsonic

Doesn't the lack of evidence "suggest" that we are alone in the observable universe?

The best argument for alien life is statistics.
The best argument against is evidence.

But you can't prove a negative so this seems pretty pointless.
A study suggesting god doesn't exist would be equally pointless.

Is this just PR for the Future of Humanity Institute?

a reply to: Subsonic

Conclusion: The Universe is just for fun.

a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar

No, not necessarily.
Prove a universal beginning, other than God...
And you disprove the idea of God. Simple.

It’s not a negative, it is an unknown.


Just like this “study”.

his project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research a nd inno- vation programme (grant agreement No 669751). This paper reflects only the view of the authors: the ERCEA is not responsible for any use that m ay be made of the information it contains.

well ?
Basically EU telling us ET isn't there ? For the rest viewpoints and guestimates ... I don't believe a bloody thing that's coming out of that direction. EU=NWO=agenda21 right ?

I find it very funny that some scientists based off their limited knowledge of what constitutes "life" in the universe claim there is none.

Humanity has been around for only a fraction of a split second within the cosmic time line and we can now safely say there is zero life in the universe? Wow. Just Wow.

Not to mention the theory that life could exist within multiple dimensions which we don't have the technology to travel to or see. We are still considered ants in the cosmic realm.

I think this study is a bunch of garbage myself, you can't have a study without any empirical evidence to actually study. It's just speculation.

For me personally, as long as we're wildly speculating, my money is on simple life forms being nearly ubiquitous throughout the universe, that life will develop wherever it possibly can. Intelligent life, on the other hand, is orders of magnitude rarer to the point where it evolved in only a small fraction of one percent of all the places in the universe where life can exist. And then, where intelligent life exists, the next question is WHEN does it exist, and for how long? I think not terribly long before it dies out again, unfortunately.

That being said, the numbers we're dealing with here are so incredibly large that we're still talking about a significant number of potential civilizations, just in our own galaxy, at this precise moment in time. Remember that even if only one planet 1000 light years in any direction in our galaxy harbors intelligent life, we're still talking about hundreds of planets in our galaxy alone. And if we're 1000 LY away from the nearest intelligent life, it's going to take at least 2000 years for any signal we send to them to be received by them, and then a signal sent back to us.

So it's no wonder we're not hearing much...

originally posted by: vinifalou
a reply to: Subsonic

I challenge these "scientists" to prove that.

What makes us so special to be the only life in the universe?

There's nothing on Earth that can't be find in some other planet in a different solar system.

The problem is the universe is way too big and we are just ants trying to figure out what the world is.

The theory that proves it is as solid as the big bang theory.

Just watch the cern movie they made and it explains the current understanding and conclusions that have been made from the evidence gathered so far.

a reply to: Hazardous1408

It's not that easy.

God is the ultimate ace in the hole.
Prove that it is virtual particles which created the universe and all you have to say is "god did it".

Prove that god goes against all science and knowledge and....
"god wanted it to appear that way"

When you are claiming magic all bets are off.
Which brings us back to aliens...

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

originally posted by: Hazardous1408
a reply to: Krahzeef_Ukhar
Prove a universal beginning, other than God...
And you disprove the idea of God. Simple.

Now is the beginning and now is the end.
God is Presence (now).

Now is seeing and knowing now.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

Or maybe there were aliens before only to get wiped out by a real life version of Thanos

And don't fear there are reports of portals to other dimensions and I'm pretty sure its possible there are humans there.

a reply to: Subsonic


I don't tend to disagree. I also think it's a good thing since we have zero idea if an alien intelligence is friendly and I would rather not take the chance on finding out.

A bit like standing in Antarctica or the Sahara and saying i don't see anything else that's alive - the whole planet must be dead..

a reply to: Subsonic

suggests that humanity is alone in the observable universe,

That's like saying Australia doesn't exist because I can't see it.

Well My learned group, the Institute for Detecting Intelligent Outer Terrestrial Symbiotes, better known as Idiots have found the collective of people in study groups (no matter how clever) the more intelligent the more BS apparently emits from their mouths with no pure evidence whatsoever. So all the long complicated words they like to use is just bum fluff.