Wikipedia:Peer review/Fermi paradox/archive1

Fermi Paradox

This article is a delisted FA. One of the concerns was citations, which has been partially addressed; there are 18 now and I'd suggest we need about 40. Any help in that regard would be great.

The other concern was structure: TOC length, bloat, at times a lack of focus. I've undertaken some fairly massive changes but there isn't a lot of feedback on the talk page so for all I know I'm disimproving. The page has dropped from close to 60(!) headlines to about 30 and from 66 to 57K. If you've got some time you can compare this from when I started there to the present page. Thanks all, Marskell 09:41, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Interesting subject; if I have time I may have lots of comments. The article is too long. In the lead, "The age of the universe and the vast number of stars in the universe suggest that extraterrestrial life should be common." is an assertion. For example, if I were a religious fundamentalist I might have the POV that ET life should not be common. Maybe something more like, "Given the estimated age of and number of stars in the universe, if ET life existed on even 1 in 10(9) planets it would still be abundant." or something in that vein. I guess I'm saying the statement as written contains assumptions that aren't explicitly spelled out. Also, who coined the term "Fermi paradox"; I understand the story may be apocryphal but someone had to use the term first. Kaisershatner 20:37, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for looking at it. I partially restored some of the changes which if you don't like we can talk about. Note I added "seem to suggest" per your concern. I actually think it's the last sections, rather than the first ones, that need looking at (though naturally people edit near the top of the page when they first arrive).

Regarding, who said it first, I really don't know. I'm hoping someone who has read the Stephen Webb book, If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody?, at the end of the references to come along here. I'm handicapped in terms of looking things up, unfortunately. Marskell 08:23, 29 April 2006 (UTC)