At last, I’ve taken the plunge and decided to continue my vlog series as a podcast series! Picking up from where I left off, Episode 1 addresses one of the most famous proposed resolutions to the Fermi Paradox – The Great Filter Hypothesis! First proposed in 1996 by Robert Hanson (Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University), the theory is best described as follows:
“The Great Filter can be thought of as a probability barrier. It consists of [one or] more highly improbable evolutionary transitions or steps whose occurrence is required in order for an Earth-like planet to produce an intelligent civilization of a type that would be visible to us with our current observation technology.”
The possibility that all advanced life faces this filter has significant implications for human life today, none of which are particularly pleasant! Depending on where the filter resides along the evolutionary pathway, we may either be past it (indicating that we are a fluke), or we could be headed straight for it (indicating that we are on borrowed time).
All this and more in Episode 1! Here’s the audio track:
The same episode, with video:
Stories by Williams 