The Fermi Paradox

[Diana]

LIIIIINK: http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

One of the rare COOL links I get on my facebook feed~!

Mostly I am posting this because it could make for some awesome roleplay inspiration. O___O


What do YOU think are chances are for life out there in space? Where do you think we sit in the grand scheme of things?

 

[Asmodeus]

Hmm.... I like the explanation that we are the first.

Maybe there was some kind of condition (which can't yet be measured) which was either active until recently, or activated a short while ago. And thus we are one of a number of civilizations developing towards the stage where we can achieve contact with one another for the first time in uni-history.





Also, the idea that Earth is a reality gameshow being kept in isolation is VERY VERY TEMPTING.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

With the very limited knowledge and understanding that we as humans possess?

I think the Galaxy is loaded with life and that we're not seeing them due to a combination of:

1) The universe is a big ass place
2) Our methods of sending and receiving messages are insanely primitive
3) Many probably just see us as an ant hill

In regards to where we sit in the grand scheme of things?

I think there's probably a good amount of species far ahead of us, but we're probably far ahead of a ton of other life forms as well.
It just seems too unlikely that we're anywhere near the top or the bottom in comparison.

 

[Hana]

2) Our methods of sending and receiving messages are insanely primitive

I think it's possible they can 'see' or 'hear' us, considering how much radio waves/signals/frequencies can escape the ionosphere. Our methods may be primitive, but they may be more advanced and be able to receive those signals.

Wonder what they would think of Star Trek and Doctor Who unknowingly being played out across space?

 

[SamIO]

Something that a lot of people presume when talking about alien life, I've noticed, is that they've somehow solved the lightspeed barrier. We have a lot of ideas about how it might be done, but we've still not proven that any of them are actually worthy of further investigation, and so we're just sort of flailing out of desperate hope for such an ability. There's nothing saying that even a hyper-intelligent apex civilization is able to travel or communicate faster than the speed of light, so it compels me to wonder if that might have something to do with the emptiness of the universe we live in where our nearest dead neighbor would take centuries to reach with current technology and the nearest maybe living neighbor would take millenia. It's just so big that to come in contact with another species is just as miraculous as surviving long enough to catch them.

I also get the impression that there are a couple of major filters — namely biopoiesis and sapience. As Urban mentioned, the former has never been recreated in a lab and the latter has only one surviving victor, and furthermore evolution doesn't guide everything toward intelligence. I reckon that sapience in humans comes out of a positive feedback loop facilitated by sexuality and doubled by culture (we generally don't seek partners with lesser intelligence and we have consistently raised our children in a more advanced society than that of our childhoods since the era of hunter-gatherers). Biopoiesis is just something that comes out of dumb chance as far as I know, so I guess that just doesn't happen very often in the first place.

So, what about that one species that was spawned in a boiling chemical bath, miraculously took their world stage by the reigns and rode into the Type III sunset with their automated replicants or something? That's a good one, I think. Maybe we're it; maybe we're in that last sliver where they just haven't gotten, yet; maybe they skipped our planet on purpose because of the Prime Directive; maybe they just didn't bother because why would they bother colonizing a galaxy when they can just spawn a miniature universe and tap it for its potentially infinite energy — maybe that's what dark matter is: Missing matter that was taken from us by our universe's host!

Wow, that really is a good one. I never thought about a real species that just colonizes and colonizes and doesn't stop. It always just seemed so primitive for a species that could do things with far more ease otherwise.

 

[Brovo]

Also, the idea that Earth is a reality gameshow being kept in isolation is VERY VERY TEMPTING.

I'm a fan of this one.

There is always the possibility, however, that other life forms simply hit a state of such vast technological superiority that they've long since passed singularity. Thus having accelerated to a point that we simply cannot recognize it with our limited capacity to analyze extremely small measures of space. Maybe instead of a God, our entire galaxy was created as part of a local galactic cluster reorganization project by such a vast, unfathomable greater intelligence, and we've not even the slightest comprehension of just how incidental our existence really is in this cosmic expanse.

Perhaps there is alien life all around us, and we're simply ill equipped to recognize it. After all, when looking for civilization, would we look for smoke signals, or radio waves? Maybe while looking for radio waves, we're doing the same thing as looking for smoke signals...

We won't know until we get out there for ourselves, anyway. Which will be a long, long time after all of us discussing this will have expired. It's fascinating to think about though.

 

[Space Cowboy]

The idea that there is a barrier to expansion of ife and civilization into the universe is... completely and utterly terrifying (and awesome)!!

I mean, think about it: either every other civilization out there has failed, or we're ahead of the curve. And if there are hundreds and thousands of civilizations that have failed... How the hell does that mean we're so special? Are we The Chosen One of galactic civilizations? That's flawed thinking, at best.

And if we are ahead of the curve, the First and Only... Well, fuck. The galaxy is going to be shit on like no one else will ever know. If you think we have a Roddenberry-esque future ahead of us, you're out of your damned mind. We're going Orwellian well before that.​

 

[Razilin]

did the Drake Equation get mentioned yet?

 

[unanun]

The one you can plug random numbers into?

I would love for us to get out of the solar system one day. But more and more, it seems that sheer distance, c, and relativity binds us. We will likely die alone.

 

[GhostJoker]

I do believe there is so much more out there. From civilizations with advanced technology beyond ours to civilizations with not so much technology whom which are still learning.

That link tho...It was interesting. I also think though that we should learn more about our planet before we expand beyond to others. So much of the ocean is unexplored along with a large portion of jungles. Who knows what things our planet may be hiding that we haven't discovered yet?

How awkward would it be to come in contact with an alien species and we can't tell them about our planet fully because we haven't discovered it all? D:

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

I think it's possible they can 'see' or 'hear' us, considering how much radio waves/signals/frequencies can escape the ionosphere. Our methods may be primitive, but they may be more advanced and be able to receive those signals.

Perhaps, but that's assuming said signals traveled far enough to reach anyone else, which it probably hasn't yet considering how vast space is.

Wonder what they would think of Star Trek and Doctor Who unknowingly being played out across space?

I imagine they'd it both funny and interesting.
I'm pretty sure any species capable of picking up and understanding those transmissions also realize and/or relate to a fascination of space, and a desire to write tales about it.