npub1y7xjhwu8swklf6wjyhsma9yxuf4uq0np5vgt5w2v0jyfg0ss6wusrvjrl4 (npub1y7x…jrl4) npub1tlmcf382cxuj2fvrpnsfp33nlqcpyej2cut7tqwx65etz6l8x3nq83sp2j (npub1tlm…sp2j) I am pretty sure that there aren't any galactic civilisations out there. Space is too big and too deadly, life-bearing worlds like our Earth are too few and too far apart, and a living planet cannot sustain an industrial civilisation for long enough to even begin terraforming other planets or moons in the vicinity.
I think we're alone in this galaxy--not because there aren't any other planets with intelligent life, but because industrialised technological civilisations are too rare and too short-lived. They stumble upon some resource, it doesn't always have to be fossil carbon deposits, that allows them to kick off their Industrial Revolution, and when they're just getting started in space, sending probes and maybe even people to other bodies in their own star system, their home planet's biosphere goes into meltdown due to the unintended side effects of their technologies, and even if they don't go extinct, they are forever reduced to a postindustrial post-collapse state, with future civilisations never again reaching a technologically advanced level.
We're alone in the universe. There are many alien civilisations out there, but every single one is all alone, too. Very few ever get to detect a signal from another civilisation, even fewer find an alien probe or some other alien artifact, but by the time they find it, the other civilisation from which the signal or artifact originated has been extinct for aeons.
Nobody travels faster that the speed of light because speeds v > c just don't exist, they don't make sense because c is the highest possible speed in spacetime, it is the speed of causality itself. Large physical objects don't even travel at speeds anywhere close to c because of the immense energies needed to accelerate to such speeds. At any reasonable speed, travelling towards even the closest neighbouring star system takes centuries if not millennia. Cyogenically freezing the crew and reanimating them when the target system is reached might work for aliens with some weird anatomy and bodies that aren't too large, but I very much doubt it will ever be possible for humans or any living organism of similar size and complexity.
All those common science fiction tropes like hyperspace, wormhole travel, warp drives, etc., won't work in the real world, they would need materials and/or power sources that just cannot exist in this universe.
So that's my answer to the Fermi Paradox: Industrial Civilisation is a dead end for any kind of cultural evolution, and any intelligent species ever going through an Industrial Revolution will be lucky to survive the eventual collapse of the Machine Age. Instead of dreaming of the stars, we should better prepare to survive the collapse that is upon us. And the usual "prepper" way of doing that, stockpiling food, weapons, and ammunition, won't do any good--that's just Western individualism gone mad, what we need is a kind of collectivism. We need some kind of eco-socialist society without private property or markets where everybody is equal, gets the same share of everything no matter if they have done "more" or "less" for the community, and where things like profits and private wealth just don't exist anymore, because it is the existence of those very things which makes it impossible for us to get out of this trap.
Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC /
npub19u…g6hsy
2024-02-15 18:30:25
in reply to nevent1q…8a0j
Author Public Key
npub19u4ha9q5zm5p0c6lq7055ftsxnn90nkc2pn4slewyzf5nzzf98nsug6hsyPublished at
2024-02-15 18:30:25Event JSON
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"content": "nostr:npub1y7xjhwu8swklf6wjyhsma9yxuf4uq0np5vgt5w2v0jyfg0ss6wusrvjrl4 nostr:npub1tlmcf382cxuj2fvrpnsfp33nlqcpyej2cut7tqwx65etz6l8x3nq83sp2j I am pretty sure that there aren't any galactic civilisations out there. Space is too big and too deadly, life-bearing worlds like our Earth are too few and too far apart, and a living planet cannot sustain an industrial civilisation for long enough to even begin terraforming other planets or moons in the vicinity. \nI think we're alone in this galaxy--not because there aren't any other planets with intelligent life, but because industrialised technological civilisations are too rare and too short-lived. They stumble upon some resource, it doesn't always have to be fossil carbon deposits, that allows them to kick off their Industrial Revolution, and when they're just getting started in space, sending probes and maybe even people to other bodies in their own star system, their home planet's biosphere goes into meltdown due to the unintended side effects of their technologies, and even if they don't go extinct, they are forever reduced to a postindustrial post-collapse state, with future civilisations never again reaching a technologically advanced level. \nWe're alone in the universe. There are many alien civilisations out there, but every single one is all alone, too. Very few ever get to detect a signal from another civilisation, even fewer find an alien probe or some other alien artifact, but by the time they find it, the other civilisation from which the signal or artifact originated has been extinct for aeons. \nNobody travels faster that the speed of light because speeds v \u003e c just don't exist, they don't make sense because c is the highest possible speed in spacetime, it is the speed of causality itself. Large physical objects don't even travel at speeds anywhere close to c because of the immense energies needed to accelerate to such speeds. At any reasonable speed, travelling towards even the closest neighbouring star system takes centuries if not millennia. Cyogenically freezing the crew and reanimating them when the target system is reached might work for aliens with some weird anatomy and bodies that aren't too large, but I very much doubt it will ever be possible for humans or any living organism of similar size and complexity. \nAll those common science fiction tropes like hyperspace, wormhole travel, warp drives, etc., won't work in the real world, they would need materials and/or power sources that just cannot exist in this universe. \nSo that's my answer to the Fermi Paradox: Industrial Civilisation is a dead end for any kind of cultural evolution, and any intelligent species ever going through an Industrial Revolution will be lucky to survive the eventual collapse of the Machine Age. Instead of dreaming of the stars, we should better prepare to survive the collapse that is upon us. And the usual \"prepper\" way of doing that, stockpiling food, weapons, and ammunition, won't do any good--that's just Western individualism gone mad, what we need is a kind of collectivism. We need some kind of eco-socialist society without private property or markets where everybody is equal, gets the same share of everything no matter if they have done \"more\" or \"less\" for the community, and where things like profits and private wealth just don't exist anymore, because it is the existence of those very things which makes it impossible for us to get out of this trap.",
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