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I always thought that if a civilization was so advanced, why would it spend time interacting with a world like ours? We may feel special, but that's only becau

I always thought that if a civilization was so advanced, why would it spend time interacting with a world like ours? We may feel special, but that's only because we haven't found anything else. If they found hundreds (or more) of worlds like ours, then maybe we're just another dot on their galaxy map. Plus if the media is anything to go by, all we do is shoot each other. Might not be too exciting for a civilization who can travel amongst the stars.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
That's the subject of about a century of science fiction speculation. The deal is, if we were one among hundreds or thousands, what are the odds nobody at all in any of those other civilizations would want to interact with us? Because we've received zero interactions. Dead silence. Why is that? Well, it takes a lot of energy to broadcast, so they'd have to beam us a message. We're not really looking for beams. Don't even know what they'd look like? Laser pulses? Soliton trains? Neutrino bursts?
- sliken 8y ago
  Someone would have to be very close (30 light years or so) to have noticed us and have time to signal back. Even among those, likely they would just watch us and then decide if they want to chance contacting a race that has thrown nukes at each other.
  - gehwartzen 8y ago
    To put that in perspective there are about 400 stars within 30 light years of earth and among those stars we have found 26 exoplanets. This radius represents only about 0.00014% of just our own galaxy and an infinitesimaly small portion of the entire universe.
  - ntsplnkv2 8y ago
    According to our knowledge of the universe. And if that is accurate, then essentially we ARE alone in the universe. There simply isn't anything close enough - we'll be enveloped by the sun or some other catastrophe before that happens.
ntsplnkv2 8y ago
Why do humans spend time studying ants? Atoms? To further our understanding of the world. Seems illogical to think there isn't a civilization out there that wouldn't expand and explore other places. Just seems unlikely that we assume, because the universe is so big, there are advanced civilizations out there - but not ones that can find us, not ones that we can find, for various reasons discussed in these threads. If our understanding of the universe is true to a certain point, civilizations are far more likely to be essentially alone and "special" than many might think.
- erikpukinskis 8y ago
  We study a billionth of a billionth if a percent of ants. Most ants we totally ignore.
  - ntsplnkv2 8y ago
    Because there are an abundance of ants. Is there a similar abundance of planets with life in the universe?

JoeAltmaier 8y ago

That's the subject of about a century of science fiction speculation. The deal is, if we were one among hundreds or thousands, what are the odds nobody at all in any of those other civilizations would want to interact with us? Because we've received zero interactions. Dead silence. Why is that? Well, it takes a lot of energy to broadcast, so they'd have to beam us a message. We're not really looking for beams. Don't even know what they'd look like? Laser pulses? Soliton trains? Neutrino bursts?

sliken 8y ago
Someone would have to be very close (30 light years or so) to have noticed us and have time to signal back. Even among those, likely they would just watch us and then decide if they want to chance contacting a race that has thrown nukes at each other.
- gehwartzen 8y ago
  To put that in perspective there are about 400 stars within 30 light years of earth and among those stars we have found 26 exoplanets. This radius represents only about 0.00014% of just our own galaxy and an infinitesimaly small portion of the entire universe.
- ntsplnkv2 8y ago
  According to our knowledge of the universe. And if that is accurate, then essentially we ARE alone in the universe. There simply isn't anything close enough - we'll be enveloped by the sun or some other catastrophe before that happens.

ntsplnkv2 8y ago

Why do humans spend time studying ants? Atoms? To further our understanding of the world. Seems illogical to think there isn't a civilization out there that wouldn't expand and explore other places. Just seems unlikely that we assume, because the universe is so big, there are advanced civilizations out there - but not ones that can find us, not ones that we can find, for various reasons discussed in these threads. If our understanding of the universe is true to a certain point, civilizations are far more likely to be essentially alone and "special" than many might think.

erikpukinskis 8y ago
We study a billionth of a billionth if a percent of ants. Most ants we totally ignore.
- ntsplnkv2 8y ago
  Because there are an abundance of ants. Is there a similar abundance of planets with life in the universe?