A curated index of the best learning resources on the Internet for aliens and the Fermi Paradox.
This list covers topics like the Fermi Paradox, the Drake Equation, the Great Filter, extraterrestrial life, space exploration, or generally the question of “Where are all the aliens?” If you’re completely new to these ideas, start with Start Here. This should tell you everything you’d ever need to know about aliens and Fermi’s Paradox; but if you’re still curious, explore everything else below. Resources marked with ❗️ are difficult, and those with 🌟 are our favorite.
- The Fermi Paradox — Where Are All the Aliens? by Kurzgesagt.
- The Fermi Paradox II — Solutions & Ideas by Kurzgesagt.
- The Fermi Paradox by Tim Urban on Wait But Why.
- Enrico Fermi — Physicist that created the world's first nuclear reactor, and famous for pondering the question of “Where are all the aliens?”
- Frank Drake — Astronomer and astrophysicist notable for being one of the pioneers in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, founding SETI, and developing the Drake Equation.
- Nikolai Kardashev — Developed the Kardashev Scale for ranking the advancement of civilizations.
- Stephen Hawking — Theoretical physicist famous for research on black holes and gravity.
- Carl Sagan — Astronomer famous for research on extraterrestrial life.
- Neil DeGrasse Tyson — Astrophysicist and host of the popular TV series “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.”
- Peter Diamandis — Founder of the X Prize Foundation, Singularity University, and Planetary Resources.
- Elon Musk — Founder of PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX.
- Jeff Bezos — Founder of Amazon.com, Blue Origin, and Bezos Expeditions.
- Glossary of astronomy by Wikipedia.
- The Fermi Paradox by Tim Urban on Wait But Why. 🌟
- The Fermi Paradox—A Ridiculously Comprehensive Guide by Emanuele Faja.
- Isaac Arthur’s channel — Exploring concepts in science with an emphasis on futurism and space exploration.
- Deep Astronomy
- The Fermi Paradox — Where Are All the Aliens? by Kurzgesagt. 🌟
- The Fermi Paradox II — Solutions & Ideas by Kurzgesagt. 🌟
- Why Can't We See Evidence of Alien Life? by TED-Ed.
- Could human civilization spread across the whole galaxy? - Roey Tzezana by TED-Ed.
- Von Neumann Probes and the Fermi Paradox by Deep Astronomy.
- Fermi’s Paradox by Professor Joseph Silk FRS for Gresham College.
- Bill Nye's Answer to the Fermi Paradox
- Fermi Paradox Great Filters: Space and Time — video playlist by Isaac Arthur on Fermi’s Paradox.
- How Far Can We Go? Limits of Humanity. by Kurzgesagt.
- Carl Sagan On Alien Civilizations
- Neil deGrasse Tyson On A Disturbing Thought — Neil DeDegrasse Tyson’s commentary on aliens and advanced consciousness.
- Calculating The Odds of Intelligent Alien Life - Jill Tarter by TED-Ed.
- Should we be looking for life elsewhere in the universe? - Aomawa Shields by TED-Ed.
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains Why We Haven't Found Aliens (Yet) by ThinkTank.
- Are You Alone? (In The Universe) by Kurzgesagt.
- Fermi paradox by Wikipedia.
- Do aliens exist? by MIT OCW. 🌟
- The Fermi Paradox, Where Are All the Aliens? (Infographic) by Jaime Trosper for Futurism.
- The Fermi Paradox by Cole Miller for University of Maryland.
- Fermi Paradox by the SETI Institute.
- What Is the Fermi Paradox? by Elizabeth Howell for Space.com.
- SETI Claims We’ll Know Whether Alien Life Exists Within 20 Years by Jolene Creighton for Futurism.
- Where’s the Evidence of Extraterrestrials? by Jaime Trosper for Futurism.
- On The Alien Question: Where Are They? by Marcelo Gleiser for NPR.
- Beyond Fermi's Paradox--Where Did All the Aliens Go?" by The Daily Galaxy.
- Know Your Scientist: Frank Drake by Jaime Trosper for Futurism.
- Computing and the Fermi Paradox: A New Idea Emerges—The Aliens Are All Asleep by David Schneider for IEEE Spectrum.
- Are We Alone? – Calculating the Number of Alien Civilizations by Futurism.
- The Rare Earth Hypothesis: by Futurism.
- 11 of the Weirdest Solutions to the Fermi Paradox by George Dvorsky for Gizmodo.
- Are we living in a Simulation? Elon Musk & Fermi Paradox
- How Advanced Races of Intelligent Beings Could Live in Black Holes by Jaime Trosper for Futurism.
- The Search for Life: New Tech Opens a Universe of Alien Worlds by Eleazer Corpuz for Futurism.
- Fermi's Paradox Revisited by Dr. Jeff Kuhn by Dr. Jeff Kuhn for the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy.
- Buzz Aldrin’s Vision for Space Exploration
- The Fermi Paradox: Why Are There No Tourist from Other Worlds? by the SETI Institute.
- Habitable Planet Statistics - Claudio Maccone (SETI Talks) by the SETI Institute.
- If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... WHERE IS EVERYBODY?: Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life by Stephen Webb.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
- Contact by Carl Sagan.
- Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.
- Blindsight by Peter Watts.
- Fermi Paradox by David Spergel for Princeton University.
- MoCA public lecture - Philip Judge, "Are we alone in the Universe?" for the Monash Centre for Astrophysics.
- Imagining Other Earths by David Spergel for Princeton University. 🌟
- Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space by Chris Impey for University of Arizona.
- Life in the Universe by David E. Trilling for Northern Arizona University.
- A curated list of awesome resources related to Outer Space
- A big list of space book and whitepaper recommendations 🌟
- A list of space exploration related books (some are online, some are on paper)
- Just a list of interesting papers about exoplanets, civilization, and Fermi paradox
- The Fermi Paradox: we're either rare, first or fucked on /r/space.
- ELI5 "The Great Filter" theory and why is it scary on /r/explainlikeimfive. 🌟
- ELI5: Why are we trying to get in contact with aliens if messages will take millions or billions of years to go back and forth? (And they might not even be able to catch it or decipher it then) on /r/explainlikeimfive.
- ELI5: When we pick up radio waves from outer space, how do we interpret if they came from a natural source versus artificial source (i.e. Alien music)? How is an electromagnetic wave converted to a mechanical sound wave? on /r/explainlikeimfive.
- ELI5: How many earth-like planets can aliens see in our solar system using our technology? on /r/explainlikeimfive.
- What is your preferred answer to the Fermi paradox? on Quora.
- What are some of the most interesting solutions to the Fermi Paradox? on Quora.
- Reddit, what's the scariest theory known to mankind? on /r/AskReddit.
- What are some of your own or 'favourite' Great Filter theories? (Fermi Paradox) on /r/space.
- The Great Filter: Where are all the aliens? on /r/Physics. 🌟
- Is the Fermi Paradox theory likely true? Why or why not? on /r/space.
- Astronomy Cast
- Superstars of Astronomy Podcast by Astronomy.
- Space by BBC.
- Are We There Yet? — The Space Exploartion Podcast.
- Cosmic Vertigo
- Orbital Path
- Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
- Main Engine Cut Off — A short, weekly podcast about spaceflight, exploration, policy, and strategy in the modern era and near future. 🌟
- StarTalk by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
- Fermi’s Paradox by This American Life.
- The Fermi Paradox – Why Don’t We Have Convincing Evidence of Extraterrestrial Life? by FutureThinkers.
- The Fermi Paradox by Astonishing Legends.
- Counting Aliens With the Drake Equation by Astronomy Cast.
- The Fermi Paradox: Where Are All the Aliens? by Astronomy Cast.
- Solutions to the Fermi Paradox by Astronomy Cast.
- The Fermi Paradox by The Unbelievable Podcast.
- The Fermi Paradox: Where the heck are all the aliens? by HowStuffWorks.
- On the astounding lack of extraterrestrials ‘round Here by The After On Podcast.
- Life in the Universe: The Fermi Paradox by the University of Oxford.
- Joe Rogan & Duncan Trussell on Fermi Paradox, Time Travel, The Universe and Infinity
- Hawking’s fear of an alien invasion may explain the Fermi Paradox by Douglas A. Vakoch for Theology and Science.
- Lingam, M., & Loeb, A. (2017). Natural and Artificial Spectral Edges in Exoplanets.
- The Fermi paradox, Bayes’ rule, and existential risk management by James D. Miller & D. Felton.
- Lin, H. W., Abad, G. G., & Loeb, A. (2014). Detecting Industrial Pollution in the Atmospheres of Earth-Like Exoplanets. The Astrophysical Journal, 792(1), L7. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/792/1/L7 (arXiv:1406.3025): For CF4/CCl3F, which are easy to detect, 1.2/1.7 days of total integration time is sufficient to detect the concentration to 10 times the current terrestrial level. ❗️
- Kipping, D. M., & Teachey, A. (2016). A cloaking device for transiting planets. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 459(2), 1233–1241. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw672 (arXiv:603.08928): Using (peak power) 30MW monochromatic laser to cloak Earth only for 10 hours per year. Chromatic cloak can also be applied with 250MW laser. Cloaking atmosphere only is also possible at lower energy budget. ❗️