##£§*††-~¨ ¨~-††*§£##
£*†~~~¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨~~~†*£
§§††-¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨-††§§
§*††---¨¨¨ ¨¨¨---††*§
##£§*††-~¨ ¨~-††*§£##
##£§*††-~¨ #¨¨¨--------¨¨¨# ¨~-††*§£##
§§§§*††-~¨ ####¨-- FERMI'S PARADOX --¨#### ¨~-††*§§§§
£*††--~¨¨¨ #¨¨¨--------¨¨¨# ¨¨¨~--††*£
#££§*††-~¨ ¨~-††*§££#
#£§†††~¨¨¨ ON EARTH (THE PLANET WHERE I LIVE) A ¨¨¨~†††§£#
##£§*††-~¨ LOT OF US HAVE ANTENNAS ON OUR HOUSES ¨~-††*§£##
##£§*††-~¨ OR BALCONIES, WE HAVE BUILT LARGE ¨~-††*§£##
###£§*†-~¨ ANTENNAS FOR LARGER BANDWITH, WE HAVE ¨~-†*§£###
#£§*†~~¨¨¨ BUILD SPECIALIZED ANTENNAES FOR ¨¨¨~~†*§£#
£§§*†-¨¨¨¨ SPECIFIC WAVELENGTHS (AND SENT THEM ¨¨¨¨-†*§§£
£*††††~~¨¨ INTO ORBIT), WE'VE BUILT LARGE AS FUCK ¨¨~~††††*£
###§*††-~¨ ANTENNA ARRAYS ¨~-††*§###
§§*††††-~¨ WE'VE VIRTUALLY BUILT AN ANTENNA WITH A ¨~-††††*§§
##£§*††-~¨ DISH AS LARGE AS EARTH. ¨~-††*§£##
§*†-~¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨~-†*§
#£*†††~¨¨¨ WE'VE LEARNED ABOUT OUR POSITION IN THE ¨¨¨~†††*£#
###£*††-~¨ SOLAR SYSTEM, OUR SOLAR SYSTEMS ¨~-††*£###
£§§§*††-~¨ PLACEMENT IN THE GALAXY, AND OUR ¨~-††*§§§£
#§**†~~~¨¨ GALAXYS PLACEMENT IN THE LOCAL CLUSTER, ¨¨~~~†**§#
##£§*††-~¨ AND -OUR- LOCAL CLUSTERS PLACE IN THE ¨~-††*§£##
#£*†--~~¨¨ GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS ¨¨~~--†*£#
##£§*††-~¨ ¨~-††*§£##
##£§*††-~¨ AND WE'RE MOVING AROUND THE SUN AT ¨~-††*§£##
#££§*††-~¨ VELOCITY AND THE SUNS MOVING AROUND THE ¨~-††*§££#
#§*†~¨¨¨¨¨ CENTER OF THE GALAXY AT VELOCITY AND ¨¨¨¨¨~†*§#
§*††††-¨¨¨ THE GALAXY IS MOVING TOWARD ANDROMEDA ¨¨¨-††††*§
#£§††---~¨ AND WE'RE BOTH MOVING ANTICLOCKWISE ¨~---††§£#
##£§*††-~¨ AROUND THE GALAXY. AND WE AS A SPECIES ¨~-††*§£##
#§††~~¨¨¨¨ HAVE LEARNED TO TAKE ALL THAT IN ACCOUNT ¨¨¨¨~~††§#
£**†--~~¨¨ ¨¨~~--†**£
££*††††-~¨ AND DESPITE ALL THIS, DESPITE ALL OUR ¨~-††††*££
##£§*††-~¨ (CLICHE) BEAMING OF FUCKING STELLAR ¨~-††*§£##
###£§††-~¨ RADIO PROGRAMMES OUT IN FUCKING SPACE ¨~-††§£###
##£§*††-~¨ AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT (LIGHT IS OUR ¨~-††*§£##
##£§*††-~¨ MEDIUM! GOODSPEED YOU, BLACK EMPEROR!), ¨~-††*§£##
§§§†††-¨¨¨ DESPITE GHOSTS HELPING AND THE ¨¨¨-†††§§§
£§*††††-~¨ COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS LOWPASS ¨~-††††*§£
##£§*††-~¨ FILTERING, DESPITE OUR VERY OBVIOUS ¨~-††*§£##
££*†~¨¨¨¨¨ BEAMING OF ALL OUR SECRETS IN EVERY ¨¨¨¨¨~†*££
##£§*††-~¨ DIRECTION KNOWN TO US, ¨~-††*§£##
£§††-¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨-††§£
##£§*††-~¨ NO ¨ ONE ¨ HAS ¨ ANSWERED ¨~-††*§£##
§*†-¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨-†*§
£§§††††-~¨ #¨¨¨--------¨¨¨# ¨~-††††§§£
##£§*††-~¨ ####¨-- FERMI'S PARADOX --¨#### ¨~-††*§£##
§§§§*††-~¨ #¨¨¨--------¨¨¨# ¨~-††*§§§§
##£§*††-~¨ ¨~-††*§£##
##£§*††-~¨ SO WHY IS THAT? ¨~-††*§£##
##£§*††-~¨ ¨~-††*§£##
§*††††--~¨ MOST OPPONENTS TO INTELLIGENT LIFE IN ¨~--††††*§
##£§*††-~¨ THE UNIVERSE SAY IT'S BECAUSE YOU NEED ¨~-††*§£##
#££§*††-~¨ A CLASS ONE-OR-THE-OTHER STAR AND THE ¨~-††*§££#
§*††-~~~~¨ PLANET NEEDS TO BE AT A SEE-AND-SO ¨~~~~-††*§
##£§*††-~¨ DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE STAR (LIKE THERE ¨~-††*§£##
££*†--~¨¨¨ HAS TO BE A PLANET!) ¨¨¨~--†*££
£**††-¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨-††**£
##£§*††-~¨ BUT REALLY ISN'T THAT KEEPING THE ¨~-††*§£##
£**†---¨¨¨ DEFINITION OF LIFE REALLY LAX? ¨¨¨---†**£
##£§*††-~¨ ¨~-††*§£##
§††-¨¨¨¨¨¨ I THINK EVERYONE AGREES THAT WE HAVE NO ¨¨¨¨¨¨-††§
#§*†~¨¨¨¨¨ IDEA WHAT WE'RE DOING (AND IT PROBABLY ¨¨¨¨¨~†*§#
##£§*††-~¨ SHOWS) ¨~-††*§£##
###£§††-~¨ ¨~-††§£###
#§*††--~¨¨ #¨¨¨--------¨¨¨# ¨¨~--††*§#
##£§*††-~¨ ####¨-- FERMI'S PARADOX --¨#### ¨~-††*§£##
##£§*††-~¨ #¨¨¨--------¨¨¨# ¨~-††*§£##
£*†~~¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨~~†*£
##£§*††-~¨ I'M GONNA GO SMOKE MY THIRD CIGARETTE ¨~-††*§£##
#§†††~¨¨¨¨ THIS YEAR AND TRY TO SNATCH SOME BEERS ¨¨¨¨~†††§#
£*†-¨¨¨¨¨¨ FROM THE LOCAL BEER THING ¨¨¨¨¨¨-†*£
##£§*††-~¨ ¨~-††*§£##
§§***††-~¨ ¨~-††***§§
###£§*†-~¨ ¨~-†*§£###
##£§*††-~¨ ¨~-††*§£##
§*†-¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨-†*§