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Health & Science4h 30m ago
Professor 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."
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Columbia University
Who
David Kipping, Michael Hart, Frank Tipler, Carl Sagan, William Newman, Enrico Fermi, David Brin
What
Professor 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."
When
Sat, 13 Jun 2026 23:30:02 GMT · 4h 30m ago
Where
Columbia University ·
Why
Kipping's model builds on the Hart-Tipler Conjecture by incorporating cosmic expansion, aiming to address the Fermi Paradox and the lack of observational evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
Kipping's findings imply a profound rarity of advanced civilizations capable of interstellar expansion, suggesting either an extremely low probability of such civilizations emerging or that humanity is alone in the universe, significantly impacting our understanding of astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Story chain
6 events in this thread- Health & Science4h 30m 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 30m 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 30m 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
- Health & Science4h 30m 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.Open article
- Health & Science4h 30m 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
- Currently Reading4h 30m 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."