Continuing on our discussion of solutions to Fermi's Paradox from our last meeting, attached is a recent 9-page article from the International Journal of Astrobiology.
Somehow though, I just don't find any of the proposed solutions satisfying. There are various different groupings of solutions but for me they fall into two broad categories - "basically anthropocentric in some way", or "they are there but beyond our ability to perceive them". If there is one thing science has taught us is that the more we know, the further away we are from some central special place in the universe, so the anthropocentric solutions don't feel right. The second category is essentially tautological. We don't see them because we don't see them. That's not super helpful.
Maybe we don't see them because space (even within our own solar system) is just that vast that it is totally unlikely that we ever will. Kind of a depressing thought, but oh well. And regarding alien robots and other self-replicating artifacts, perhaps space itself is expanding faster than the artifacts can be replicated, so no way do they ever make it to our view.
That was a very interesting topic last night. Thanks Dan!
Somehow though, I just don't find any of the proposed solutions satisfying. There are various different groupings of solutions but for me they fall into two broad categories - "basically anthropocentric in some way", or "they are there but beyond our ability to perceive them". If there is one thing science has taught us is that the more we know, the further away we are from some central special place in the universe, so the anthropocentric solutions don't feel right. The second category is essentially tautological. We don't see them because we don't see them. That's not super helpful.
Maybe we don't see them because space (even within our own solar system) is just that vast that it is totally unlikely that we ever will. Kind of a depressing thought, but oh well. And regarding alien robots and other self-replicating artifacts, perhaps space itself is expanding faster than the artifacts can be replicated, so no way do they ever make it to our view.
That was a very interesting topic last night. Thanks Dan!
