shirgall Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 A discussion of the relative uniqueness of Earth's environment and why we haven't found evidence of other technological civilizations with SETI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosencrantz Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Other reasons for Fermi's paradox are: - Alien civilisations wipe each other out before they can start sending data (remember we escaped nuclear twice with a lot of luck in 1963 and 1983).- They transmit encrypted data whose entropy is not distinguishable from random noises (Snowden's argument) - The least likely argument forwarded by Nick Bostrom: we live in a simulation created by our progeny. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Torbald Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Other reasons: They are just very, very far away. Even at the speed of light, for their signals to reach us would take millions of years. By the time it would even reach us, the signal would have red-shifted to almost nothing. I read an article recently on how Earth is among the first planets from a stable star to have ever formed. Most of the planets that will ever be formed, or the stars that could hold life hadn't formed by the time we did. So being among the first planets to have life, and advanced intelligence is also a reason. Others haven't caught up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirgall Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 I read an article recently on how Earth is among the first planets from a stable star to have ever formed. Most of the planets that will ever be formed, or the stars that could hold life hadn't formed by the time we did. So being among the first planets to have life, and advanced intelligence is also a reason. Others haven't caught up. I heard it differently, but I haven't read about this is a while. Earth is what is called a "third generation" planet. There have been a couple cycles of star formation and collapse before Sol and Earth solidified out of debris. This is why we have higher-order elements like Gold and Uranium available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan C. Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 I think the single greatest obstacle is distance. Another is economics. If they get the economics wrong then their intelligence won't matter. Earth is a splendid example. As a result, humanity is centuries behind where it should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamuelS Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 I read an article recently on how Earth is among the first planets from a stable star to have ever formed. Most of the planets that will ever be formed, or the stars that could hold life hadn't formed by the time we did. So being among the first planets to have life, and advanced intelligence is also a reason. Others haven't caught up. Mind blown. I hadn't ever considered this, I don't think I've ever heard it before...isn't it odd, that we find ourselves to be the most advanced on our planet, yet we expect to be in infancy compared to others...my mind is reeling over this, I think I'll be chewing on this one a bit. Surely there's a psychological basis for this, maybe similar/same as that for socialism, religion....thanks for the insight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Mister Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Other reasons for Fermi's paradox are: - Alien civilisations wipe each other out before they can start sending data (remember we escaped nuclear twice with a lot of luck in 1963 and 1983). - They transmit encrypted data whose entropy is not distinguishable from random noises (Snowden's argument) - The least likely argument forwarded by Nick Bostrom: we live in a simulation created by our progeny -They have evolved sufficiently to recognize the principle of non-interventionism, especially with primitive violent cultures. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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