Editing 962: The Corliss Resolution

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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
{{w|Jeb Corliss}} is a professional BASE jumper and {{w|wingsuit}} flyer, like in the fourth panel. Corliss has jumped from a lot of different buildings and monuments in the world. He's publicly taken the position that the dangers of his activity are irrelevant, because the ability to effectively fly is so incredible and compelling that nothing can dissuade him from doing so.  
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{{w|Jeb Corliss}} is a professional BASE jumper and {{w|wingsuit}} flyer, like in the fourth panel. Corliss has jumped from a lot of different buildings and monuments in the world. Hence, the Corliss Resolution.
  
The {{w|Fermi paradox}} is the question of why humans have yet to detect any evidence of extraterrestrial life. The name apparently arose from a discussion between {{w|Enrico Fermi}} and several other physicists, in which they were discussing the vastness of the universe and the huge numbers of inhabited planets that were likely, which supposedly caused Fermi to exclaim, "So where the hell is everybody?" The argument is that, given the number of intelligent species we were expect to exist in the galaxy, and the amount of time we would expect them to have existed, it's surprising that we haven't observed some evidence of their existence, or even been visited by them yet.  
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The {{w|Fermi paradox}} is an astronomical problem that states: "The universe is large enough that many planets should have extraterrestrial intelligent life. Why, then, haven't we detected any signs of it?" The paradox has numerous hypothetical solutions — some say that life is much rarer than we think, and others suggest that civilizations will eventually destroy themselves (as mentioned in the comic).
  
There are a number of different theories to explain this apparent paradox, ranging from life (or intelligent life) being rarer than we expect to the signs of alien intelligent being hidden or hard to detect, to the lifetime of an intelligent civilization being generally short.  The last theory is most relevant to this strip, as some hypothesize that any sufficiently advanced civilization  will develop the tools to destroy itself, and will almost inevitably use them, sooner or later. This suggests that the galaxy may be littered with collapsed or extinct civilizations that never gained the means to contact us.
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Randall proposes another solution to the Fermi paradox: before they can develop space travel and the like, civilizations will inevitably invent an "activity more fun than survival." That is, something fun that's also very dangerous, such as flying off a cliff in a wingsuit.
 
 
Randall proposes a different (and rather more fun) theory: before they can develop space travel and the like, civilizations will inevitably invent an "activity more fun than survival." That is, something fun that's also {{w|List of fatalities due to wingsuit flying|very dangerous}}, such as flying off a cliff in a wingsuit. This also suggests that most intelligent civilizations collapse, but instead of happening due to war or reckless science, it happens because something becomes so fun that beings do it until it kills them.
 
  
 
As said in the title text, a being that can already fly (hence "avian society") would probably prefer flying around outside over developing the tools needed for space colonization.
 
As said in the title text, a being that can already fly (hence "avian society") would probably prefer flying around outside over developing the tools needed for space colonization.

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