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"The Fermi Paradox is one of the more thought-provoking signs that something might be amiss (at least in our part of the galaxy), and especially because our cul
by ZanyProgrammer 12y ago
"The Fermi Paradox is one of the more thought-provoking signs that something might be amiss (at least in our part of the galaxy), and especially because our culture is predisposed to not take anything happening on the interstellar stage very seriously this provides an impetus for reflection that would otherwise not happen."
A hypothetical observer in North America, circa 1500, would have no idea that Asia and Europe existed. Perhaps we're not too far from some interstellar space empire, but since they use some exotic means of FTL communication, we can't detect them?
- Udo 12y agoI'm not sure how your argument applies to what you cited of my post, but you are not wrong. You don't even need to consider exotic FTL communication, it could just be low-power directional radio traffic. In fact, if a full clone of Earth with exactly the same culture and technology as ours was located just a dozen light years from here, chances are we would not be able to detect that civilization. The media is always talking about our expanding radio sphere, but in reality this signal gets very weak and jumbled, very fast, with increasing distance. The means all the misinformed derps who believe aliens are coming to take our resources (a group which includes Stephen Hawking for some reason) can sleep pretty well at night knowing that we have not really advertised our existence yet.