Chapter 27: Presiding (Page 1/1)

In the huge studio hall of the school park, Wallace, who temporarily served as the host, asked Hank Pym, the former superhero Ant-Man, "Dr. Pym, can you tell me what was the first thing you thought when you heard that aliens really exist?" ”

Dr. Pym coughed, and as the oldest person present, as well as a senior in the field of scientific research, he carefully considered his words before he said slowly: "The first thing I thought of was the 'Fermi paradox'. ”

"The Fermi Paradox?" Wallace, like a professional TV presenter, said, "Can you explain?" ”

"Absolutely." Hank Pym smiled, all the guests present were professional physicists, and said that it was an explanation, but it was actually a speech to the audience in front of the TV, "In 1950, the Nobel laureate and physicist Fermi, while discussing aliens with others, casually said, 'Where are they?'" ’

It was this simple phrase that sparked a discussion that lasted for half a century. ”

Hank Pym's words were broadcast in real time and delivered to thousands of households.

From S.H.I.E.L.D.'s space carriers, to poor farmers on snowy plateaus, from hot and dry black Africa to frozen Antarctic research stations.

People are listening.

Hank Pym lifted Erlang's legs, sorted out his thoughts a little, and said slowly, "Are humans the only life in this universe?"

According to the statistical probability, the probability of life and even civilization in the universe is not low, and the number of stars in the observable universe is about 10 to the 22nd power.

If we are arrogant and assume that only stars resembling the Sun can give birth to life - this condition has a probability of 5%, then the number of stars that meet the requirements is 5% of 10 to the 22nd power.

If further restrictive conditions are given that there must be planets with liquid water in the star system, which has a 20% probability of this meridian, then the number of stars that meet the requirements is 10 to the 20th power.

In other words, there are 10 to the 20th power of planets that could give birth to life in the observable universe. ”

Dr. Reid Richards, who was sitting next to Dr. Pym, interjected, "Of course, it may be that the birth of life is not the same as the absolute birth of life, and it is not the same as the absolute birth of civilization.

If we take the probability of 0.0001%, then there may be 10 trillion planets in the observable universe similar to the level of civilization on Earth.

If you narrow this down to the Milky Way, there are also 100,000 planets similar to Earth's civilization. ”

100,000, this is the number of Earth-level civilizations that may exist in the galaxy.

"How is that? It's not much, and any number would seem insignificant in the Milky Way. Leon turned his gaze to the camera and said indifferently: "However, what we are talking about here is civilization, a civilization that can continue to evolve.

Stars are the basis for life on planets. However, the Sun on which we live is an extremely young star on a cosmic scale.

There are many, many older stars in the Milky Way, which means that the civilizations that rely on these stars may be hundreds of millions of years earlier than the Earth's civilization, or even billions or billions of years. ”

Leon snapped his fingers, and a three-dimensional projection suddenly rose in the center of the studio hall, projecting images from various eras.

Humans dancing around the campfire with sticks and rocks held aloft and roaring ghosts;

Humans who stepped into the slave age, digging graves and preparing living sacrifices;

Humans who stepped into the feudal era, built tall buildings, and developed etiquette;

Humans who stepped into the Age of Discovery, wielded gunpowder weapons, and galloped across the sea;

World War I, World War II, the application of nuclear weapons, the outbreak of the Cold War, the collapse of the USSR ....

Scenes are projected in the screening hall and finally condensed together to form a simple number: 30,000.

"Thirty thousand years, this is the time occupied by human civilization."

Leon smiled and said, "Today's human beings are like gods in front of the ancient humans 30,000 years ago.

So what would a civilization that was millions or hundreds of millions of years ahead of the earth look like? ”

He paused for a moment before he said, "No one can answer this question, but one thing can be confirmed, if such a super civilization really exists, it will definitely have a great impact on the surrounding cosmic environment, and it can definitely be easily observed." ”

"That's right." Dr. Nair DeGras Tyson nodded and said: "Our Milky Way is only 100,000 light-years in diameter, and if aliens travel interstellar at only one thousandth of the speed of light, it will only take 100 million years to cross the galaxy and colonize a large area within the galaxy. ”

"If we had used a more efficient method, it wouldn't have taken even 100 million years."

Dr. Rajesh Kusrapari finally found an opportunity to get out of his embarrassment, and said softly, "If you create a von Neumann machine that can replicate itself, just like Mr. Leon, your mechanical octopus, it can continue to plunder the resources of various planets, and keep copying more von Neumann machines,

Like a swarm of locusts that swarms wildly surging across the galaxy, this is an extremely effective way for advanced civilizations to plunder resources. ”

"That's right." Leon nodded, "There are too many ways for higher civilizations to influence and interfere with their surroundings, but to this day, before the appearance of the Zetarians, we still haven't found any trace of their existence.

So the question is, where are they? ”

Dr. Pym Hank said quietly: "There are so many possibilities, but we still can't find extraterrestrial civilizations, this is the Fermi paradox. ”

Reed Richards picked up the conversation, "Since the Fermi paradox exists, and if we want to explain it, we must find a plausible explanation in this logical chain.

The first is that there is no such thing as a super-civilization in the galaxy. ”

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fantastic, what you said is inevitably a bit of a conflict with the past, since there may be 100,000 earth-level civilizations in the galaxy, how can there not be a super civilization that is enough to interfere with the galaxy?" Wallace asked.

Reed Richards, known as one of the smartest people in the world, said with a smile: "There is only one answer, and that is the big filter." ”

"The big filter theory refers to the fact that in the process of the emergence of life and the emergence of a third-level civilization, there are one or more barriers, like walls blocking all life."

Leon explained to the camera: "This wall is so impenetrable that it will filter out most of life—and this is why a Level 3 civilization is not in our sights." ”

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