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- Even if it sends out probes, those probes generally fall into the gravity wells of the planets they are sent to over the millions of years. But then wouldn't
by jimmcslim 11y ago
- Even if it sends out probes, those probes generally fall into the gravity wells of the planets they are sent to over the millions of years.
But then wouldn't we have possibly observed these probes? Maybe they have visited our planet, just so long ago such that any evidence of their arrival has decayed...
- x5n1 11y agoMetal decays fast enough, but not only that the Earth's crust moves and most of the planet is water. It's like looking for a small piece of metal that was here say 10 million years ago, is very rusted and probably at the bottom of the ocean. And even if they send probes, it's not as if they or we send a million of them. We send a few, and they are expensive, and they are easily lost.
- david-given 11y agoWhy would any self-respecting interstellar civilisation build probes out of metal? It's expensive, heavy, doesn't breed very well, and doesn't last. A true interstellar self-replicating probe is going to look like a fat molecule. Hell, they could be here already; panspermia is still a totally valid theory.