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> If we humans are now on the cusp of colonizing our solar system We're not. And we may never be, let alone able to travel through space continuously while som

by mnm1 8y ago

> If we humans are now on the cusp of colonizing our solar system We're not. And we may never be, let alone able to travel through space continuously while somehow maintaining generation after generation of life using a finite amount of resources that could travel with us. The paradox assumes so many things that are far from a given, to me it's confusing why such a great thinker couldn't see his own fallacious thinking. Maybe there is a ton of intelligent life out there that can barely get to the moon once or twice before giving up forever. That intelligent life would be like us, possibly dreaming of colonizing the next planet over while destroying itself. We could not, with current technology, possibly detect such life. We can barely detect earth like planets as is. The assumptions Fermi makes are simply too great for this idea to be compelling.

tiatia123 8y ago
Look, I am an extreme pessimist in most things but here I disagree. If (big if) we escape some traps, we may be able to send at least unmanned space ships or Ships with Androids.
deviationblue 8y ago
This cannot be overstated. Also, we are treating this planet like we've got options elsewhere. This is setting people up for a rude awakening, whenever that may be down the line.
megaman22 8y ago
This sort of pessimism is depressing. We have to at least try, and we have more than enough capability if we cared to try - we put men on the moon while fighting a major war and engaging in a nuclear arms race, with computers orders of magnitudes less powerful than a raspberry pi.
- mnm1 8y ago
  Pessimism? I think you mean a dose of reality. We aren't even close. That's reality no matter what Musk and others like him say. If anything, it's extreme, unwarranted, delusional optimism that sees us colonizing the planets. And that's just our solar system. We can't even get to Mars and probably couldn't even get to the moon at this point. I don't see why we would assume that other intelligent species would be able to escape, except briefly, their planets. There is nothing at all that warrants that assumption now or when Fermi was alive. Why would anyone assume this even for the future? Progress is not guaranteed and as we have seen throughout history, periods of progress are often followed by periods of decline.

by mnm1 8y ago

tiatia123 8y ago

Look, I am an extreme pessimist in most things but here I disagree. If (big if) we escape some traps, we may be able to send at least unmanned space ships or Ships with Androids.

deviationblue 8y ago

This cannot be overstated. Also, we are treating this planet like we've got options elsewhere. This is setting people up for a rude awakening, whenever that may be down the line.

megaman22 8y ago

This sort of pessimism is depressing. We have to at least try, and we have more than enough capability if we cared to try - we put men on the moon while fighting a major war and engaging in a nuclear arms race, with computers orders of magnitudes less powerful than a raspberry pi.

mnm1 8y ago
Pessimism? I think you mean a dose of reality. We aren't even close. That's reality no matter what Musk and others like him say. If anything, it's extreme, unwarranted, delusional optimism that sees us colonizing the planets. And that's just our solar system. We can't even get to Mars and probably couldn't even get to the moon at this point. I don't see why we would assume that other intelligent species would be able to escape, except briefly, their planets. There is nothing at all that warrants that assumption now or when Fermi was alive. Why would anyone assume this even for the future? Progress is not guaranteed and as we have seen throughout history, periods of progress are often followed by periods of decline.