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I definitely agree with the first part. Vivien Send a noteboard - 29/09/2011 08:32:33 PM
I agree that just looking at the night sky, you can tell that there's probably like somewhere else out there.

Now why haven't we seen it? Well they could be really really far away and by the same token they haven't seen us. There's technology and there's interstellar technology in science fiction. We don't have it either, so... Maybe there's a civilization forming somewhere reasonably close and by the time they're beyond burning stuff there are no more of us.

I'm not sure about the fossil fuels theory.

I don't get the longing for the contact with aliens thing. It's really fun and exciting in fiction but probably won't be so great in reality. Either we're dominating them or they're dominating us. OR: they're so so advanced that they're ultra pacifists and they come to the decision that the best thing for earth would be to exterminate most of the human race, just leaving a few vegans.

[Bonus points if anyone recognizes the series I'm referring to. It was kind of interesting, but I felt like the main character was a traitor to the human race and it made me want to be all HUMANS ARE SUPERIOR!!!]


I just read an article where it was postulated that one third of Sun-like stars host warm, water-bearing planets. Using the Milky Way as the obvious example, a minimum estimate of 200 billion stars of which 7.6% are G-classified (our Sun is a G) yields 15 billion stars with potentially Earth-like planets. At 13 billion years old, I find it inconceivable that there isn't intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy.

Jump to Fox's new Terra Nova TV show, and more relevently the discussion on the TV/Movies board. Living on a planet without fossil fuels means that the only way to extract energy is to burn things, turn a water/wind mill, etc. until you're able to refine fissionable or create solar panels.

Taken together, I have to wonder if one reason we haven't seen other intelligent life already is because the energy available to make the transition from low-tech energy sources to anything more capable is precluded by the necessity for fossil fuels to serve as an intermediary energy source.

Think about it: how likely is heavy industry - metallurgy in particular - and the following technological society to even be possible if the best you can do is lighting a wood fire?
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An interesting thought I had that may be worth discussion. - 29/09/2011 07:22:01 PM 743 Views
Well, Fermi Paradox discussions usually end with ???? - 29/09/2011 07:51:59 PM 422 Views
you do have to hope there's intelligent life somewhere out there - 29/09/2011 07:56:48 PM 478 Views
I definitely agree with the first part. - 29/09/2011 08:32:33 PM 574 Views
why do you think only those options would be available? - 29/09/2011 08:35:53 PM 425 Views
Could be cultural domination. - 29/09/2011 09:32:18 PM 441 Views
*shrug* Humans aren't that bad - 29/09/2011 09:51:32 PM 412 Views
Oh yes we are. - 29/09/2011 10:27:52 PM 433 Views
Unless their advancement is so great they are VERY ethically enlightened, her fears seem valid. - 30/09/2011 03:04:40 AM 488 Views
hmmm - 30/09/2011 02:34:47 PM 421 Views
"And hey. I'll eat most anything once." - 30/09/2011 07:22:01 PM 401 Views
I think I've met a few aliens... - 30/09/2011 01:31:55 AM 431 Views
Why do fossil fuels have to be involved? - 29/09/2011 08:33:26 PM 405 Views
Going into the fossil fuel vs wood thing - 29/09/2011 08:51:07 PM 500 Views
The big issue is energy density, IMHO. - 30/09/2011 02:53:39 AM 511 Views
That's so perfect. - 30/09/2011 06:43:31 AM 452 Views
We really have no idea how rare advance technologies societies are - 30/09/2011 02:00:56 PM 551 Views
That's a really good point. - 30/09/2011 04:34:28 PM 464 Views
The doomsdays options don't really hold up well though - 30/09/2011 05:22:57 PM 478 Views
I think we have different interpretations of "silence" - 30/09/2011 07:47:32 PM 579 Views
It kind of comes down to whether FTL is possible - 30/09/2011 09:12:32 PM 544 Views
hmmm - 30/09/2011 07:51:42 PM 336 Views
Yeah but that's just a variant of "Highly advanced aliens who for some reason are totally stupid" - 30/09/2011 10:21:34 PM 557 Views
I didn't mean to imply that were not talking to us because they looked down on us - 01/10/2011 01:07:02 AM 502 Views
Re: I didn't mean to imply that were not talking to us because they looked down on us - 01/10/2011 02:50:42 AM 499 Views
thanks for the detailed answer - 01/10/2011 03:08:48 PM 488 Views
No prob, hopefully it's not all inaccurate nonsense - 01/10/2011 03:18:05 PM 526 Views
not to mention that the universe is HUGE - 30/09/2011 07:53:33 PM 413 Views
True - 30/09/2011 10:37:58 PM 377 Views
of course I can't say, that was my point - 30/09/2011 07:42:55 PM 427 Views
I was totally agreeing with you until I wasn't. - 30/09/2011 08:09:08 PM 560 Views
That's pessimistic, though. The "blaze of glory" is ongoing. - 01/10/2011 04:25:28 AM 406 Views
another thing for consideration - 01/10/2011 11:55:12 AM 411 Views

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