[FredZarguna]

Fermi's credentials were of the highest order, both as an experimentalist and a theorist; a very rare creature, indeed. However, the Fermi Paradox isn't taken seriously because of his name. It's taken seriously because it's a legitimate question to ask: it's a confrontational challenge to blithe assumptions. The serious follow-up research is all that matters. Hart and Tipler offer one quantified scenario that has to be answered by SETI researchers. There are others.

The so-called Drake Equation isn't taken seriously because the name is attached to a prominent SETI pioneer. It's not taken seriously because it's nothing more than a WAG, and everyone who understands quantified science knows it.

[vetvetdoug]

A man from my town, 1937 Corinth HS graduate, was one of Fermi's assistants at the Nuclear Fission Test in Chicago and was one of the signers of the Chianti Bottle. He later was over ORNL, taught at Vanderbilt and Princeton, was a guest of Niels Borr for a year as a lecturer, and recently passed away. Those that were Fermi's intellectual equals possessed IQ’s far past the norm.