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The Fermi paradox is the discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high likelihood of its existence. Those affirming the paradox generally conclude that if the conditions required for abiogenesis are as permissive as the available evidence on Earth indicates, then extraterrestrial life would be sufficiently common such that it would be implausible for it not to have been detected yet. The quandary takes its name from the Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi: in the summer of 1950, Fermi was engaged in casual conversation about contemporary UFO reports and the possibility of faster-than-light travel with fellow physicists Edward Teller, Herbert York, and Emil Konopinski while the group was walking to lunch. The conversation moved on to other topics, until Fermi later blurted out during lunch, "But where is everybody?"—although the exact quote is uncertain. There have been many attempts to resolve the Fermi paradox, such as suggesting that intelligent extraterrestrial beings are extremely rare, that the lifetime of such civilizations is short, or that they exist but (for various reasons) humans see no evidence.
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