Hacker News Reader

Anyone who has ever pondered the existence of extraterrestrial life has heard of Fermi's paradox, while only history buffs interested in WWII or Japan or the Second Red Scare or alternatively science geeks interested in nuclear explosives have ever heard of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

View on HN

Aren't there more people who are seriously interested in and studying WWII history than there are people who are seriously interested in and studying extraterrestrial life?

google trends seems to agree: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=world%20...

Not necessarily the bit with Oppenheimer in it. He's not hugely relevant outside making things go bang in new and exciting ways.

Whereas Fermi (in the context of the Fermi paradox) is kinda foundational, if you're in the extraterrestrial life field.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com