3 ms·
I think it comes down to the fact that it appears in 10,000 - 1,000,000 years (very soon relative to earth's birth) humans will be able to colonize nearly the w
by doctoboggan 9y ago
I think it comes down to the fact that it appears in 10,000 - 1,000,000 years (very soon relative to earth's birth) humans will be able to colonize nearly the whole galaxy using von Neumann probes[0] It would not require technology much more advanced that we have now.
If life evolved on a planet a billion years before earth, why haven't they colonized the galaxy?
Kurzgesagt recently published a video covering the idea of the "Great Filter".[1] The idea is that there must be something (some "filter") preventing life from colonizing their galaxy.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_spacecraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_spacecraft
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjtOGPJ0URM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjtOGPJ0URM
- ctdonath 9y agoThe filter: budding scientist invariably reaches a point of "what if I try this" and the planet evaporates.
- Meerax 9y agoWhen I saw an article saying that CERN was going to create essentially micro blackholes that was a thought that crossed my mind.
- joe_the_user 9y agoI don't think one can be certain that a "von Neuman probe" is not "much advanced than we have now." Maybe the challenge of producing a thing capable of going interstellar distances and foraging the resources it needs to create copies of itself is only short distance (in time) away from our present capabilities but maybe it is vastly far away or impossible. Given we definitely don't know how to do this now, we basically can't say which it is.