"Promising hints of life on distant planet"

[Ryujin]

It may also simply be that human style 'intelligent' life isn't common at all. The vast majority of civilizations could be quite content to muck about in their own neighbourhoods, making use of their cometary clouds for minerals, water, etc., practicing conservation and population control.

 

[Morrus]

Ye olde Fermi strikes again!

 

[Kichwas]

The fastest thing we have ever made is the (unmanned) Parker Solar Probe which reached 0.064% of c.

We ain’t going anywhere at 99% of c.

Furthermore... if we somehow ever do figure out that speed, it would take just about 1 gallon of gas less than 'infinity' to do it.

 

[Morrus]

Furthermore... if we somehow ever do figure out that speed, it would take just about 1 gallon of gas less than 'infinity' to do it.

Or litres of petrol!

 

[J.Quondam]

It may also simply be that human style 'intelligent' life isn't common at all. The vast majority of civilizations could be quite content to muck about in their own neighbourhoods, making use of their cometary clouds for minerals, water, etc., practicing conservation and population control.

Heck, as far as anyone knows, there's nothing that requires that "civilization" - much less "technologically advancing civilization interested in space exploration" - is a necessary outcome of life. That's not how evolution works.

 

[Morrus]

Heck, as far as anyone knows, there's nothing that requires that "civilization" - much less "technologically advancing civilization interested in space exploration" - is a necessary outcome of life. That's not how evolution works.

Are you saying that hedgehogs are not a technologically advanced civilisation?

 

[Reynard]

Heck, as far as anyone knows, there's nothing that requires that "civilization" - much less "technologically advancing civilization interested in space exploration" - is a necessary outcome of life. That's not how evolution works.

We have no way of knowing, one way or another. it isn't actually "intelligence" that has allowed (or forced?) us to create our civilization. Rather, it is the uniquely (as far as we know) human ability to worry about tomorrow.

In any case, it is always a bad idea in a universe as vast as our to suggest that we are special or unique. If intelligent life evolved here, it almost certainly has evolved elsewhere.

 

[Ryujin]

Heck, as far as anyone knows, there's nothing that requires that "civilization" - much less "technologically advancing civilization interested in space exploration" - is a necessary outcome of life. That's not how evolution works.

Which, as Morrus said, Fermi.

I expect the universe will eventually figure out that intelligence = mistake.

 

[MGibster]

I remember in one of my undergraduate philosophy courses my instructor putting forth the idea that space exploration was a moral imperative because one day the sun will burn out, and without someplace else to hang our hat we'll go extinct. Of course the sun will render the Earth uninhabitable long before it burns out, but we're still talking about a billion years or so, and I argued we simply can't make plans today for an event hundreds of millions of years in the future. Argue space exploration is a moral imperative because of the knowledge it brings, but don't tell me it's necessary to avoid extinction.

Space is big. I don't know if anyone has mentioned that. The distances between stars is vast in a way that is difficult to comprehend. I won't rule out the possibility of technology advancements, but for the foreseeable future, space exploration is going to be unmanned. Sending people to Mars is a stunt. Just send robots. If we ever encounter an alien civilization, at best it'll be a transmission of some kind or an unmanned probe. Though I still dream of Mathilda May walking down the streets of London....

 

[Umbran]

Heck, as far as anyone knows, there's nothing that requires that "civilization" - much less "technologically advancing civilization interested in space exploration" - is a necessary outcome of life. That's not how evolution works.

Ah, but how evolution does work makes it a statistical nigh-certainty anyway, at least on the cosmic scale. If life lasts long enough, on enough worlds, some of them will stumble into "intelligence" and "civilization".

Which, as Morrus said, Fermi.

I expect the universe will eventually figure out that intelligence = mistake.

But "mistake" only exists in the context of intelligence! If intelligence is a mistake, then "mistake" is also a mistake.

Behold the power of the Double Negative!