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So this is several theories wrapped into one. The Dyson Dilemma (meaning Dyson spheres seem inevitable for civilizations with no more tech than we’re expected t

by cletus 8y ago

So this is several theories wrapped into one. The Dyson Dilemma (meaning Dyson spheres seem inevitable for civilizations with no more tech than we’re expected to have this century) reduces this idea to civilizations tend to destroy themselves. It’s important to remember that we are not arguing if some if not many or even most civilizations destroy themselves. For this to explain the Fermi Paradox you’re arguing that basically all do and there are lots of problems with that argument. Dyson spheres are not subtle. We can say a high degree of certa8nty that no Dyson spheres have emerged within a billion or so light years of us where light has had time to reach us or we would’ve detected them. Say 10,000 civilizations rose up within that sphere. Even if 9,999 of them destroyed themselves we would detect that 1 tha didn’t.

TangoTrotFox 8y ago
We have been able to derive an immense amount of information about our universe from observations and probes but we're still incredibly ignorant. We can't even determine whether or not there might be a substantial dark body (several times the size of Earth) orbiting within our own solar system. That hypothesis is being used to try to explain other things that remain otherwise inplexicable even within our own 'little' solar system. Grand claims about being able to detect dyson spheres with a billion light years are just silly. And even when we do detect things reminiscent of what might be a dyson sphere there is a very logical and reasonable desire to not accept this and instead look for natural explanations. For instance KIC 8462852 was never fully explained and its dimming continues to this day. The only thing that stands out against it being an 'obvious' dyson sphere is the lack of ambient infrared, which we can attribute to a variety of factors, not the least of which being the all-encompassing 'technology we don't yet know'. But we don't do this precisely because when you start going down this road you can attribute basically anything to 'aliens' in the same way a religious person might attribute otherwise explainable events to a god. The point of this being that unless a LGM walks up to us and says hi, we're not going to attribute anything, seriously, to their existence.

by cletus 8y ago

TangoTrotFox 8y ago

We have been able to derive an immense amount of information about our universe from observations and probes but we're still incredibly ignorant. We can't even determine whether or not there might be a substantial dark body (several times the size of Earth) orbiting within our own solar system. That hypothesis is being used to try to explain other things that remain otherwise inplexicable even within our own 'little' solar system. Grand claims about being able to detect dyson spheres with a billion light years are just silly. And even when we do detect things reminiscent of what might be a dyson sphere there is a very logical and reasonable desire to not accept this and instead look for natural explanations. For instance KIC 8462852 was never fully explained and its dimming continues to this day. The only thing that stands out against it being an 'obvious' dyson sphere is the lack of ambient infrared, which we can attribute to a variety of factors, not the least of which being the all-encompassing 'technology we don't yet know'. But we don't do this precisely because when you start going down this road you can attribute basically anything to 'aliens' in the same way a religious person might attribute otherwise explainable events to a god. The point of this being that unless a LGM walks up to us and says hi, we're not going to attribute anything, seriously, to their existence.