The topic of this episode is, “Where is Everybody?” The Fermi Paradox and what it means for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) roughly 70 years after Fermi first asked the famous question. Check it out, and stay tuned to the Stories from Space channel over at ITSP Magazine for new episodes airing every two weeks on Saturday!
It’s officially Launch Day! My podcast series, Stories from Space, just released its first episode. The topic, “We’re Going Back to the Moon!” talks about Artemis and related programs that will send astronauts back to the lunar surface with the long-term goal of establishing a sustained human presence on the Moon. Mostly, the episode addresses the question: why did it take us over fifty years to go back?
Answering a question like that takes about half an hour (or the length of a podcast episode). You can check it out at the Stories from Space homepage (https://www.itspmagazine.com/stories-from-space), or just click on the play button below. The episode is also available for streaming on Spotify and Apple
Originally published at http://storiesbywilliams.com on June 16, 2022.

In the mid-20th century, famed scientist John von Neumann proposed a radical idea for “Universal Assemblers” — robots that could manufacture copies of themselves indefinitely. The concept has come to be known as the “Von Neumann Probe,” which has had a significant impact in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

Could it be that the reason we are confronted by the “Great Silence” is that advanced civilizations are being wiped out? This is the essence of the Berserker Hypothesis, a proposed resolution to the Fermi Paradox (i.e., “Where are all the aliens?”) that was inspired by the science fictions series of the same name.