xinxian kongqi • 2 days ago
I don't get why the Fermi Paradox is so scary. I just see it as great evidence that it is unfeasible to the point of being impossible to travel at the speed of light. There are probably many civilisations throughout the universe, some less advanced than we are, others more advanced, but all destined to remain in roughly their own neighbourhood in space due to insurmountable constraints set by the laws of physics.
I would not say scary, but let me show you how I see this paradox (although I guess people who spent more than an hour with that should surely come up with more precise explanation)
Considering the time scale, the weirdness of quantum physics, and our development speed in the last 100 years, we can assume that a civilization with millions of years of advantage, "could" come up with solution to the distance problem. Also knowing the size of the Universe, such civilizations "should" exist.
From this starting point, I can only list the following explanations to the fact that we don't see them:
1: It may mean that the civilization development has dangers that already killed them all. Knowing our history and current state, this looks quite possible, but to be inevitable in such a great "lab"... yikes!
2: They exist, but the galactic communication and travel problem is not solvable. Consequentially, we are doomed to survive in our close neighborhood without ever meeting with others. Knowing how much we enjoy the company of other humans (perhaps with different mindset, religion or sexual behaviors), or in a more polite way: how fragile a tiny portion of Universe like our Solar System is... this can be disappointing.
3: They exist and know us, but don't see any reason to help, or at least communicate with us. Knowing what we do today to our only working and comfortable spaceship (planet Earth), this is not a real surprise, but may also be frustrating.
Which solution would you prefer? I could easily pick my favorite, but Mr. Musk would not like it, because it makes his endeavor at least questionable. ;-)
+1: They are here and do try to help us, but our current state is the best we could get so far. Gosh... =8-0
:-)
