4 ms·
> if some intelligent species developed the means to travel faster than light, surely they also developed the means to hide from us, right? Firstly, FTL travel
by nyokodo 3y ago
> if some intelligent species developed the means to travel faster than light, surely they also developed the means to hide from us, right?
Firstly, FTL travel isn’t necessary for interstellar travel so, maybe they can’t travel FTL but their ships can last the long journey. That’s not such a ridiculous leap. Secondly, even if FTL travel is possible and if it has been developed it may be impossible, prohibitively difficult, or just unnecessary for ETs to hide perfectly. Also, even if it were possible to hide perfectly now, if ETs exist and have had potentially billions of years to travel around, fight wars, have accidents, mutinies, or plagues etc then it could be impossible to perfectly hide the wrecks and detritus.
- remarkEon 3y agoYeah, I think the problem with my thought experiment is that I'm probably assuming too high a level of precision (or perhaps perfection) in whatever alien species we're talking about. Time, I suppose, is the great equalizer and there's probably little reason to assume that a space fairing civilization would no longer have the kinds of problems that plague every civilization, so your explanations ring true to me.