Teen Science Cafe | Home Alone in the Universe?

Home Alone in the Universe?

If humans are not the sole intelligent species in the universe, where is everyone else? In this brief discussion of the ‘Fermi paradox’, we use the Drake equation, thoughts on the Great Filter, and the statistics of German WWII tanks to show how just enumerating the possible answers to this question bring up the most profound philosophical issues that we can deal with as a species.”

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Brand Fortner is a teaching professor at NC State University where he teaches astronomy, astrophysics and physics and adjunct professor of physics at UNC. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in high energy astrophysics. He founded two scientific software companies, and previously held positions at NASA and Johns Hopkins University. Brand has written books on color vision and technical data, and is in high demand for his public lectures on all things astronomical.

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