Oumuamua and the Fermi paradox

“Where are they?”, cried out Enrico Fermi in anguish.  We have wondered ever since.  In spite of some subsequent refinements, I still find the Fermi paradox a…paradox.  Where are they?

Now, Oumuamua comes along…

And furthermore:

The object’s trajectory is so strange and its speeds are so blistering that it probably did not originate from within our solar system. Its discoverers concluded that the object is a rare interstellar traveler from beyond our solar system, the first object of its kind observed by humans.

So what do the academics say?

“The possibility that this object is, in fact, an artificial object — that it is a spaceship, essentially — is a remote possibility,” Andrew Siemion, director of the Berkeley Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Research Center, told The Washington Post on Monday.

Given the Fermi paradox, shouldn’t we assume a fairly high probability this is in fact some form of alien contact or display?  It’s like when you are expecting a package from UPS and then finally the doorbell rings…

So I’m excited, even though I don’t see much of a chance of a visit.  p = 0.3?  I need to crack open those old Arthur C. Clarke novels.

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