Great Silence

Science and Philosophy of Fermi's Paradox
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-0-19-964630-2
Verlag: OXFORD UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, 432 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 798 g

The Great Silence explores the multifaceted problem named after the great Italian physicist Enrico Fermi and his legendary 1950 lunchtime question "Where is everybody?" In many respects, Fermi's paradox is the richest and the most challenging problem for the entire field of astrobiology and the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) studies.

This book shows how Fermi's paradox is intricately connected with many fields of learning, technology, arts, and even everyday life. It aims to establish the strongest possible version of the problem, to dispel many related confusions, obfuscations, and prejudices, as well as to offer a novel point of entry to the many solutions proposed in existing literature. Cirkovic argues that any evolutionary worldview cannot avoid resolving the Great Silence problem in one guise or another.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cirkovic, Milan M.

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Kosmologie, Urknalltheorie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Astronomie: Allgemeines
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wissenssoziologie, Wissenschaftssoziologie, Techniksoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: Fermi's Paradox / Great Silence problem

- 2: What's past is prologue: Cosmological and astrophysical background

- 3: Underlying philosophy: Realism, naturalism, Copernicanism, and all that

- 4: L'Année dernière à Marienbad - Solipsist solutions

- 5: Terra Nostra - "Rare Earth" and related solutions

- 6: In the Mountains of Madness - Neocatastrophic solutions

- 7: The Cities of the Red Night - Logistic solutions

- 8: The tournament: How to rate solutions and avoid exclusivity

- 9: The last challenge for Copernicanism?

Über Autor(innen)

Milan M. Cirkovic is a research professor at the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, and a research associate of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. His primary research interests are in the fields of astrobiology (Galactic habitable zone, SETI studies, catastrophic episodes in the history of life), risk analysis (global catastrophes, observation selection effects, epistemology of risk), and philosophy of science (anthropic principles, philosophy of physics, future studies).