Science Vs. Logic: A Paradox

I’m not gonna lie, the Fermi Paradox is honestly one of the more interesting multiverse theories I’ve come across, and I’ve always thought it to be extremely plausible. Sometimes it can be difficult for the human mind to comprehend the enormous expanse that is outer space, so understanding the logistics of the Fermi Paradox can be just as hard. So let’s look at it step by step:

It’s pretty easy to see the Moon, which is about 238,900 miles from Earth. The Sun, which from Earth looks to be just a bit bigger than the Moon, is actually 400 times bigger, and about 93 million miles away from Earth.

One of the closest and brightest stars to Earth are Alpha Centauri A and B, which are around 4.24 - 4.37 light years away, and are just glowing dots in the night sky. Both of these stars are around the same size as the Sun. Now, looking at the hundreds of stars seen on a clear night, and the even more numerous ones invisible to the naked eye, imagine that many of those stars have a system of planets orbiting it, just like our system around the Sun. Crazy, right?

The idea that there is the possibility of intelligent life somewhere out there on a planet similar to ours is the first part of the Fermi Paradox. The other half is the paradoxical aspect of there being no evidence to support this theory.

Now, there is certainly a conflicting disparity between scientific evidence and logicality. There is evidence of planets that could possibly be inhabitable according to known characteristics of life. There isn’t evidence of actual organisms. That’s the scientific side, but what about the logical side?

There’s no evidence that there isn’t life other than us in the universe. What defines an organism on Earth may not hold true to organisms light years away. Take Tardigrades for example:

They’re incredibly small, microscopic organisms that can survive in space for at least 10 days. They can stop their metabolism and survive thousands of years in ice.

Who’s to say there aren’t other organisms in space that can live in such extreme conditions? (We also have more organisms on earth that live in extreme conditions).

As much as there is no evidence of extraterrestrial life, it’s difficult to ignore the logic and possibility of there being organisms, and even intelligent organisms, on far off planets, and even far off galaxies.