Posted on 05/19/2004 12:46:40 PM PDT by Conservomax
I have worked in that field, .....
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And I always assumed you just played one on television.....
;-)
I don't think it has anything to do with distance, speed, time, mass, etc. Those things have to do with the physical universe, which is only one aspect of our being and are just some of the end products or by-products of what we really do, whatever that is.
I was just making a point. Obviously it'd be done in a series of shorter trips.
I've always interpreted the Fermi Paradox as a suggestion of a high likelihood that intelligent life was very rare. Although it doesn't really argue FOR anything, it is thus a good argument AGAINST assuming high values to Drake Equation varaibles.
If reformulated as a hypothesis, though, the Fermi Paradox is quite analagous to the Drake Equation -- a product of numerous small variables, including the underlying likelihood of intelligent life, the likeliness of a species desiring wholesale intergalactic exploration, the feasibility of survivable self-replicating or easily replicated exploring craft, etc. etc.
Although I'm always a bit reluctant to import science fiction thinking, I do think that a moral/ethical component in advanced civilizations may be the best rebuttal of the Fermi Paradox. I suspect that self-replicating probes would never pass ethical muster, due to their destructive potential, and anthropological non-intervention principals would be likely to triumph as well. The development of sophisticated ethical systems seems fairly necessary for a society to reach high technological sophistication; a species gets intelligent only through intense competition, and it survives its advance through fission and fusion only when it can learn to add cooperation and tolerance to competition, the balance of the three forming the base of the advanced ethical system.
What Fun!!
Let us HOPE that we can manage to Communicate with "Whoever's Out There," 'cause we could Learn SO MUCH!
For a LOT of "Philosophical/Biological/Sociological" Reasons,--WE NEED an "External Intelligence!"
We NEED to disrupt the "Arrogance of" our "Uniqueness!"
Doc
Yeah but you can still go down to Toshi's station to pick up some power converters.
Yes but only if you ask in a non whiny voice.
The development of sophisticated ethical systems seems fairly necessary for a society to reach high technological sophistication; a species gets intelligent only through intense competition, and it survives its advance through fission and fusion only when it can learn to add cooperation and tolerance to competition, the balance of the three forming the base of the advanced ethical system.
Eggs Ackley. So, when Fermi asked, Where are they, not everyone raised their hands (antenni) at once. These beings may well walk among us, as some have pointed out, Democrats. When confronted, they won't admit they're from outer space. Just try to get a cat to admit to being from outer space. They never will. But you know they are. And what about that shop teacher in Junior High. You know he was. Betty Crocker and Uncle Ben, both of them were. Nobody knows where these people came from, or where they went. Harley Earl, he's designing Wentlers on Saturn. Dick Nixon, he's got a low level cabinet post on Jupiter. Take a close look at Leon Panetta. They're out there.
FYI pings.
bump
THANKS.
Cokie Roberts, exactly. Rumor has it, Starsky and Hutch pick her up, then they pick up Bill Clinton, and the four of them drive around Norfolk Virginia shouting and yelling and throwing beer cans at passers-by. They've been doing this since they were teenagers.
Remember the lead guitar player for Iron Butterfly? He had refused to check in, and was about to give away trade secrets, when they came and got him. Jimmy Hoffa, same thing. Is there intelligent life in the universe? The answer is yes; but at an undisclosed location.
The way I look at it, life has been on the Earth for about 4 billion (4x 109) years, intelligent life about (say) 100,000 (105), and radio-using life about 100 (102).
So the odds against intelligence would seem to be 40,000 (4x104) to 1, and against radio-using intelligence about 40,000,000 to 1. Not quite a billion, but...
So, technically, what you're saying is, the smartest people alive in the world, know full well the value of life -- and don't wonder where everybody is (in the universe). They already know where everybody is, so they buy real estate in gated communities and move in next door to them. In other words, this is it. Try to get a room with a view, no corner lots, because the chances of this ever happening again ... well.
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