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In the old days of USENET there was this signature saying something like "The proof that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe is that they didn't
by squarefoot 6y ago
In the old days of USENET there was this signature saying something like "The proof that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe is that they didn't attempt to contact us".
- rbanffy 6y agoNot only that, but they seem to be taking extra precautions to prevent detection.
- imglorp 6y agoOr maybe they don't fill their atmosphere with pollution for us to detect and have no need to spray E&M into space.
- bluGill 6y agoThey are probably moving to harder to detect high frequency, low power, encrypted transmissions just like earth, for the same reasons. There is likely only a short window when they are detectable.
- ddalex 6y agoSee the Three Body Problem
- otabdeveloper4 6y agoOccam's Razor says that we are alone in the universe. (Feel free to downvote me, flag, etc., for speaking heresy.)
- elsonrodriguez 6y agoCurrently alone in time and distance, most likely. Uniquely sentient across time and distance, impossible.
- aksss 6y agoAdding infinite resources enables absolutism.
- 0_gravitas 6y agoAnd yet there's reason to suspect so
- aksss 6y agoThere's reason to believe many things if you sprinkle on some infinity-dust.
- tantalor 6y agoI dunno, "we are special and unique" doesn't sound like the simplest possible explanation.
- bhelkey 6y agoWe are alone doesn't necessarily imply that we are special, we could be the first.
- tantalor 6y agoBeing first is special. Only one can be first.
- otabdeveloper4 6y ago"We are alone" is the default assumption, barring any obvious evidence for aliens. Attaching 'specialness' to the default assumption is just your emotional reaction and unwarranted.
- booleandilemma 6y agoOccam’s Razor also says all planets orbit the earth because we are God’s finest creation and what other way would it be?
- otabdeveloper4 6y agoYou misunderstand Occam's Razor. The idea is that the least informationally complex theory should be the default. So, > Occam’s Razor also says all planets orbit the earth yes > because we are God’s finest creation no
- nr2x 6y agoFermi would like a word.
- thamer 6y agoIn the tiny bubble of radius ~130 light-years that we've managed to send radio waves to, maybe. The radius of the observable universe is about 46.5 billion light-years, who knows what else is in there. The ratio between these two numbers is about 1 in 358 million. Saying that we're alone because we haven't heard back after emitting radio waves for only 130 years is like being at a point in space, looking half an inch around us (1.3 cm) in all directions and declaring that Occam's Razor says there's probably nothing within a radius of 2,900 miles (4,650 km). Does that seem reasonable? :-)