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It's saying that even with probes that last 50 millions years, and visible from Earth for 1 million years, there could still be 1000 civilizations out there, an
by 10ren 17y ago
It's saying that even with probes that last 50 millions years, and visible from Earth for 1 million years, there could still be 1000 civilizations out there, and we wouldn't have heard from any of them. IOW:
Space is big.
- wlievens 17y agoSpace isn't that big at all, actually. In a couple of thousand years we would be able to expand at a rate of almost the speed of light: go to a neighbouring star, build a colony in about a century, go to the next star. You'd spread out over a significant portion of the galaxy in only a few aeons. It's not the gulfs of space that are huge, it's the gulfs of time that separate us. Stars' ages differ in billions of years. Maybe the total lifetime of the galaxy will harbour millions of civilizations all at some point, but rarely any at the same point in time?
- 10ren 17y agoTime is big.