This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record.
The result of the debate was merge and redirect. Mackensen (talk) 05:16, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)
This is a vanity page for one of the too simple theories of an obscure academic. There are many detailed, well thought out theories on this interesting topic --AlainV 18:23, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Moreover, the author of this alleged too simple theory Robin Hanson does also have an entry, in spite of his status as an obscure academic. While I am not him (nor have I contacted him) I would also like a far more specific reason for his alleged obscurity than one sentence. His [page] does not like that of a charlatan, and numerous mainstream articles are listed. My considered view is therefore to keep this entry. 80.212.11.201 20:56, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I have taken the trouble of reading Hanson's Web page on his "great" filter and it does not explain anything, or bring anything new to the debate. It is just a compendium of some other views on this. Hanson is known for his contributions in other fields, but not in this one. There are many well thought out theories around Dyson's Dyson sphere and even a relatively lighter idea like Bradbury's Matrioshka Brain is more known and developed than Hanson's Web page on "The great filter. In fact the Wikipedia article on the Fermi Paradox sums things up much better than Hanson's pages on the Web. --AlainV 02:58, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Now that the argument is transformed from one of "a simple theory of an obscure academic" into "just a compendium of some other views on this" I move to dismiss the proposal for deletion as the basis was clearly poorly understood or researched. Moreover "The Great Filter" is a known expression (ref earlier notes on Google). And while the entry on Fermi Paradox does sum things up more briefly, The Great Filter theory is more complete. Were one to take even more "trouble" in reading it one would also see original contributions (see for instance chapters starting with "Reconsidering " as well as "Technical Appendix"). The Great Filter states that thye filtering can be prior to our stage in development but also later on. Original research listing and quoting from previous work is not unusual, to the best of my knowledge there us only one serious exception, that of Louis-Victor de Broglie on his paper on Wave-particle duality. 80.212.51.83 13:41, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Before concluding a merge, note that The Great Filter covers the development (and/or prevention) of civilisations, aliens as well as our; while the Fermi Paradox covers why an alien civilisation, if it exists, has not contacted us. Thus there is a difference in scope. One could of course merge these but then also Drake Equation for completeness, at which point it gets rather big. (I have already voted for keep previously) 85.164.81.159 21:17, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)