10 unsettling answers to the fermi paradox

[Sour Masher]

An interesting take by Brian Cox on all of this. The short of it is that he thinks intelligent life at the level of civilizations might be extraordinarily rare, to the point where there may be only 1 or 2 per galaxy. He thinks it is possible we are the only advanced civilization in the galaxy. But since there are 2 trillion galaxies, he cannot comprehend this extraordinarily rare and special thing has not happened anywhere else in the universe. He also concedes the possibility, at the end, that advanced civilizations may develop in ways we cannot see, like developing inward, with nano tech and virtual reality sims.

But his primary hunch is interesting, because of what he thinks it means for us. If our type of self-aware meaning-making life is so rare that we are the only ones in this galaxy, it means even more that we don't squander it.

[rhd]

An interesting take by Brian Cox on all of this. The short of it is that he thinks intelligent life at the level of civilizations might be extraordinarily rare, to the point where there may be only 1 or 2 per galaxy. He thinks it is possible we are the only advanced civilization in the galaxy.

Along this same line of thinking, our Milky Way is estimated to be about 13.5 billion years old. This puts it among the very first galaxies that ever existed in the universe. If whatever is unique about our galaxy and solar system that made intelligent life possible took that long to develop, it stands to reason that we may be among the very first intelligent species in the universe. I have no idea how valid that idea is. Probably not very; just a thought. In comparison, our sister galaxy, Andromeda, is much younger, 'only' about 10 billion years old.

[The Feral Slasher]

An interesting take by Brian Cox on all of this. The short of it is that he thinks intelligent life at the level of civilizations might be extraordinarily rare, to the point where there may be only 1 or 2 per galaxy. He thinks it is possible we are the only advanced civilization in the galaxy. But since there are 2 trillion galaxies, he cannot comprehend this extraordinarily rare and special thing has not happened anywhere else in the universe. He also concedes the possibility, at the end, that advanced civilizations may develop in ways we cannot see, like developing inward, with nano tech and virtual reality sims.

But his primary hunch is interesting, because of what he thinks it means for us. If our type of self-aware meaning-making life is so rare that we are the only ones in this galaxy, it means even more that we don't squander it.

it does seem likely that we here on earth can't comprehend the infinite possibilities in the universe. Or maybe we are the smartest, most advanced civilization that could ever occur.

[johnnya24]

it does seem likely that we here on earth can't comprehend the infinite possibilities in the universe. Or maybe we are the smartest, most advanced civilization that could ever occur.

Don't make bombastic links! Infinity is a meaningless abstraction

[The Feral Slasher]

Don't make bombastic links! Infinity is a meaningless abstraction

Dense Matter Begets Life. It's a universal law that can't be denied

[nullnor]

given enough time everything is inevitable.

when you look at your reflection, what you see is only on the surface. you can try to find the 'meaning' hidden underneath, the measure of the depth can be deceiving.

that doesn't mean that we aren't special. the sort of thing that keeps me up at night is when i worry that we haven't even begun to find answers. maybe that's why space is so big. not to prevent civilizations from destroying each other or more advanced ones from interfering with developing ones, but to prevent them from comparing notes. for some reason, make each civilization think or realize they are unique. when a civilization does find the answer, it's going to be shockingly simple.

for example, i'm sure Einstein had to do a lot of work to figure out that space and time were combined. but looking back you say, it makes perfect sense. it was a simple answer that eluded everyone. something right under our noses but for some reason we just can't see it or figure it out.

[The Feral Slasher]

Dense Matter Begets Life. It's a universal law that can't be denied

of course it Doesn't Mean there are Billions of Life forms. There are either one or many. It's quite fascinating really.

[DMT]

Dope meme be leaking!

[onejayhawk]

Dense Matter Begets Life. It's a universal law that can't be denied

Life, in the single cellular sense I might grant you. That does not get you much. The universe is not infinte after all.

Fermi did not leave a paradox. He left a compelling argument that other life cannot exist based using the galaxy for a scale and several million years as the timeframe.

given enough time everything is inevitable.

Time isn't infinite either.

J

[Kevin Seitzer]

Distressing Millions, Billions of Light-years.