Although it's a book/movie, I like the quotes in the work 'Contact' where Ellie and her father figure say:
I believe that many civilizations have survived to the point where we are now. They either progressed past the point of self-destruction and grew, or they perished, never to be heard from again. I personally believe that we will eventually discover or report evidence that supports the notion that this is exactly what happened on Mars long ago.
I don't have a difficulty with the Fermi Paradox, because it seeks to measure distances that are well beyond our abilities. Are they well beyond the abilities of all the "others"? Probably not, but consider, if you will, how we humans relate to ants. We think they are amazing, and their social structure is worthy of study, but how often have we attempted to communicate with them? We consider them so far below our level of intelligence that communication is impossible, and yet, there is a wealth of evidence that they communication to a very high order among themselves. Same with bees.
I wonder what ants and bees 10,000 years from now will be, or 100,000, or 10,000,000, assuming us knuckle-draggers don't wipe everything out for the sake of social mores -- politics and religion.
Much as the red dwarf you reference in your name, there are world within worlds which we cannot see, but can only guess. We tend to guess that life out there is based upon carbon the same as us. What if it is based upon ammonia, or hydrogen? What would they even look like? Perhaps their vibrational energies would make them invisible to us.
- Young Ellie: Dad, do you think there's people on other planets?
- Ted Arroway: I don't know, Sparks. But I guess I'd say if it is just us... seems like an awful waste of space.
I believe that many civilizations have survived to the point where we are now. They either progressed past the point of self-destruction and grew, or they perished, never to be heard from again. I personally believe that we will eventually discover or report evidence that supports the notion that this is exactly what happened on Mars long ago.
I don't have a difficulty with the Fermi Paradox, because it seeks to measure distances that are well beyond our abilities. Are they well beyond the abilities of all the "others"? Probably not, but consider, if you will, how we humans relate to ants. We think they are amazing, and their social structure is worthy of study, but how often have we attempted to communicate with them? We consider them so far below our level of intelligence that communication is impossible, and yet, there is a wealth of evidence that they communication to a very high order among themselves. Same with bees.
I wonder what ants and bees 10,000 years from now will be, or 100,000, or 10,000,000, assuming us knuckle-draggers don't wipe everything out for the sake of social mores -- politics and religion.
(06-04-2024, 05:48 PM)K218b Wrote: https://www.iflscience.com/are-we-alone-...t-be-74438
The Fermi Paradox is not a paradox at all in my opinion because the distances between the stars have not been understood well as it seems. With conventional means interstellar travel is impossible. Even if we assume some civilizations are technologically advanced that doesn't imply they could make contact or be able to find us.
There is also the problem of synchronicity. Civilizations don't last forever and advanced civilizations may have existed in the past, let's say hundreds of millions of year ago, but they have now gone. They are extinct. These civilizations will never be able to find us and vice versa as we live through different eras.
The other problem is self-destruction and we could argue that intelligent civilizations are destroyed before reaching sufficient advancement to make contact and this is another factor we need to consider.
The probability we are the only ones in the Galaxy is miniscule. The ingredients needed for life are the same everywhere and in very large quantities. Consider our Galaxy, the Milky Way, that contains at least 100 billion stars and as many at least as many planets. The Universe is an area that contains up to 2,000 million Galaxies which on average contain around 100 billion stars...
The numbers are huge and the most likely scenario is that life is present and was present everywhere. The problem is elsewhere and it has to do with the distances, the era in which civilizations exist, extinctions before reaching very advanced civilization levels, and the speed at which radio signals are travelling.
Unless some civilizations have already found the means to manage interstellar travel. Non conventional of course.
Much as the red dwarf you reference in your name, there are world within worlds which we cannot see, but can only guess. We tend to guess that life out there is based upon carbon the same as us. What if it is based upon ammonia, or hydrogen? What would they even look like? Perhaps their vibrational energies would make them invisible to us.
