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Health & Science4h 21m ago
Professor David Kipping of Columbia University and head of its Cool Worlds Lab has proposed a new model, the "Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture," which suggests that the spontaneous rate of intelligent life emerging must be extremely low, on the order of one in a million galaxies over cosmic history, to be consistent with the observation that the universe is not largely "infected" by advanced civilizations.
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Columbia University
Who
David Kipping, Michael Hart, Frank Tipler
What
Professor David Kipping of Columbia University and head of its Cool Worlds Lab has proposed a new model, the "Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture," which suggests that the spontaneous rate of intelligent life emerging must be extremely low, on the order of one in a million galaxies over cosmic history, to be consistent with the observation that the universe is not largely "infected" by advanced civilizations.
When
Sat, 13 Jun 2026 23:30:02 GMT · 4h 21m ago
Where
Columbia University ·
Why
Kipping's model addresses the Fermi Paradox (also known as the Hart-Tipler Conjecture), which questions why, if extraterrestrial civilizations exist and can colonize, they have not reached Earth.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
This new model implies a very disturbing possibility: humanity could be alone in the universe, or at least, the probability of encountering other advanced civilizations is far lower than previously considered.
Story chain
6 events in this thread- Health & Science4h 21m agoProfessor David Kipping of Columbia University offers a new model, the "Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture" (CH-TC), which suggests that the spontaneous emergence of intelligent life must be staggeringly rare to account for the absence of galactic "infections."Open article
- Health & Science4h 21m agoProfessor David Kipping of Columbia University and the head of its Cool Worlds Lab offers a new take on this hypothesis known as the "Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture" (CH-TC).Open article
- Health & Science4h 21m agoProfessor David Kipping of Columbia University and its Cool Worlds Lab has proposed a new model, the "Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture," that suggests very tight constraints on the possible existence of technological civilizations in the universe.Open article
- Currently Reading4h 21m agoProfessor David Kipping of Columbia University and head of its Cool Worlds Lab has proposed a new model, the "Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture," which suggests that the spontaneous rate of intelligent life emerging must be extremely low, on the order of one in a million galaxies over cosmic history, to be consistent with the observation that the universe is not largely "infected" by advanced civilizations.
- Health & Science4h 21m agoProfessor David Kipping of Columbia University and the head of its Cool Worlds Lab offers a new take on the Hart-Tipler Conjecture, known as the "Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture."Open article
- Health & Science4h 21m agoProfessor David Kipping of Columbia University's Cool Worlds Lab has proposed a new model, the "Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture" (CH-TC), which suggests that if "artificial infections" (like Von Neumann probes) spawn more frequently than 1 in 100,000 galaxies, then 99.9% of the universe would be infected for a 0.1c infection wave speed, leading to a "staggeringly tight observational constraint on alien behavior."Open article