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It won't be difficult once it has been figured out once. It won't be expensive once we've truly started to unleash energy from matter. On a geological timespan,

It won't be difficult once it has been figured out once. It won't be expensive once we've truly started to unleash energy from matter. On a geological timespan, the milky way is very explorable. I think the most likely reason there isn't any observable alien life is that we're being intentionally undisturbed. Or at least, seemingly undisturbed.

jandrese 6y ago
Isn't this like saying it won't be difficult once we develop a FTL engine? Or a reactionless drive? The very lack of contact with aliens might be interpreted as strong evidence that FTL travel is either outright impossible or so impractical that it is effectively impossible. The answer to the Fermi paradox might be the tyranny of the rocket equation.
- 3pt14159 6y ago
  No. FTL travel is impossible without breaking causality. While unleashing energy from matter is something we can already (crudely) do. Even at only 1% of the speed of light, we should be able to explore the entire Milky Way in a dozen million years or so and there are plenty of proposals to transfer energy to an already high speed spacecraft. Even forgetting high speed travel. If it takes a billion years (less than 10% of the age of the universe) we would still be able to colonize the Milky Way if we're able to either exist on spacecraft for prolonged periods of time or if replicating probes with AI could do so in our stead. I'm much more of the opinion that exponential tech is self-terminating or that we're being observed by aliens but not largely interfered with or that we're in some sort of simulation or even that we're the first life forms with advanced intelligence and long life spans. The idea that mere physics is what would stop us from reaching the stars when we've already explored our local neighbourhood is just so unbelievable to me. At the very, very least we should be able to communicate over long distances and we've (as yet) been unable to pick up extraterrestrial signals that show signs of intelligence like enumerating the prime numbers, say.

jandrese 6y ago

Isn't this like saying it won't be difficult once we develop a FTL engine? Or a reactionless drive? The very lack of contact with aliens might be interpreted as strong evidence that FTL travel is either outright impossible or so impractical that it is effectively impossible. The answer to the Fermi paradox might be the tyranny of the rocket equation.

3pt14159 6y ago
No. FTL travel is impossible without breaking causality. While unleashing energy from matter is something we can already (crudely) do. Even at only 1% of the speed of light, we should be able to explore the entire Milky Way in a dozen million years or so and there are plenty of proposals to transfer energy to an already high speed spacecraft. Even forgetting high speed travel. If it takes a billion years (less than 10% of the age of the universe) we would still be able to colonize the Milky Way if we're able to either exist on spacecraft for prolonged periods of time or if replicating probes with AI could do so in our stead. I'm much more of the opinion that exponential tech is self-terminating or that we're being observed by aliens but not largely interfered with or that we're in some sort of simulation or even that we're the first life forms with advanced intelligence and long life spans. The idea that mere physics is what would stop us from reaching the stars when we've already explored our local neighbourhood is just so unbelievable to me. At the very, very least we should be able to communicate over long distances and we've (as yet) been unable to pick up extraterrestrial signals that show signs of intelligence like enumerating the prime numbers, say.