Is this to blame for the Fermi paradox?

[RAMA]

This article goes in depth on one of my theories for the Fermi Paradox that I laid out in several posts. I've never seen it anywhere else.

We Can’t Find Any Alien Neighbors and Virtual Reality Might Be to Blame

http://singularityhub.com/2015/08/2...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[BillJ]

It might account for some civilizations not going out into the stars? But all of them? That is tough to buy.

 

[RAMA]

It might account for some civilizations not going out into the stars? But all of them? That is tough to buy.

I don't think it would necessarily keep aliens from exploring all together, it may just delay them for million or thousands of years...A Singularity event that includes a simulacrum of reality that is so enticing and intermingled that it entices them for a long time.

RAMA

 

[BillJ]

It might account for some civilizations not going out into the stars? But all of them? That is tough to buy.

I don't think it would necessarily keep aliens from exploring all togehter, it may just delay them for million or thousands of years...A Singularity event that includes a simulacrum of reality that is so enticing and entermingled that it entices them for a long time.

RAMA

But it would only take a few civilizations reaching out to begin the process of populating the galaxy. We're talking about billions of years. Not a few thousand.

It is problematic at best to attempt a "one-size fits all" solution to a problem we don't even fully understand yet.

We haven't found anything yet. We may never find anything. But that could simply be the function of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

If you like Fermi paradox discussion, this physicist has a great 50 + minute video here:



[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4snQS1QGD4[/yt]



He has a slight speech impediment but it is very easy to get past. His vids are excellent.

 

[BillJ]

If you like Fermi paradox discussion, this physicist has a great 50 + minute video here:

Definitely isn't for the ADD crowd!

In my mind, we were born alone, lived alone and will likely die alone, as a species, without our questions ever having been answered. It sucks, but it is what it is.

God and Aliens are constructs designed to give us a feeling of importance and belonging. At the end of the day, we may have to figure out what our purpose is on our own.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

God and Aliens are constructs designed to give us a feeling of importance and belonging. At the end of the day, we may have to figure out what our purpose is on our own.

I think if we found aliens we would still need to find our own purpose.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

The main cause for the Fermi Paradox is that the Fermi Paradox is bullshit. It's not a paradox at all.

How are we supposed to get the evidence of these existing civilizations? So far I haven't seen any convincing source where this evidence would come from. We are incapable of running a proper broadband to Mars for future colonists yet, we would have trouble picking directed ground signals even from some of our nearest neighbours. If the aliens are in Andromeda (and we really have no idea how frequent sentient life is supposed to be) we are never going to find them.

Even if aliens visited Earth in the past, in itself an unlikely proposition, they weren't everywhere, so even archaeological evidence* will be so scarce we will probably never find it. The only seemingly paradoxical thing is that for 4 billion years they didn't seem interested in settling here, thus putting an end to our evolution. Seemingly. Because that's just selection bias. Of course they didn't.

And virtual reality? Seriously? Did somebody at singularityhub just watch The Cage for the first time?

* I suppose if they did we might one day find a small part of bacteria with DNA that's seemingly unrelated to DNA of known organisms, so such even wouldn't be totally invisible. Perhaps. But don't assume our current processes are guaranteed to find them, even if they are there, we could still miss them.

 

[Venardhi]

* I suppose if they did we might one day find a small part of bacteria with DNA that's seemingly unrelated to DNA of known organisms, so such even wouldn't be totally invisible. Perhaps. But don't assume our current processes are guaranteed to find them, even if they are there, we could still miss them.

If I'm a highly advanced alien race, I'm definitely not exposing myself and therefore probably not exposing another world to any bacterial transfer.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

The outsides of their spacesuits and spacecraft may have not been sterilized, which allows one-way transfer. Not to mention any organic waste they may have decided to dump here.

And it's not completely clear how dangerous bacterial mixing really is – aliens wouldn't be adapted to Earth bacteria, but neither would be Earth bacteria to aliens. Their bodies might be anything from not too hospital to poisonous to our micro organisms. The interaction could be any, including a wildly undramatic one. They tested it on spacerats, saw its fine and cut the precautions.

So there are ways for them to leave evidence behind, and we haven't found any. Which doesn't mean we have a reason to scream “There must be aliens, so where is the evidence?!”

 

[FPAlpha]

I fail to see the correlation of virtual reality technology and space exploration.

Sure, VR will change our society tremendously by enabling new modes of communication and entertainment but it can't substitute for real world exploration.

Assuming FTL travel is possible there is no reason to stay on our homeplanet for various reasons (overpopulation and dwindling ressources for example) much less substituting reality for virtual reality (as exciting it may be).

 

[Dryson]

The reason why a civilization wouldn't leave their planet is because of religion. Most religions center around events taking place on Earth that hold some form of capitilistic value, the crucifixition of Christ for example, is an Earth centric superstitious value used by millions of people to make money. Even on the Moon you do not have such events present for the lazy to capitilize on so they throw up all of these to not explore and colonize space. Those not endeavoring in space exploration just want to walk around talking hoping people will give them money or other free things. Space exploration for such planets is too hard because it would actually make people put their faith to the test.

 

[Kemaiku]

I fail to see the correlation of virtual reality technology and space exploration.

There isn't one.

 

[scotthm]

The reason why a civilization wouldn't leave their planet is because of religion.

Many people left their countries and continents behind for religious reasons, so I don't believe you.

---------------

 

[PurpleBuddha]

The reason why a civilization wouldn't leave their planet is because of religion.

Many people left their countries and continents behind for religious reasons, so I don't believe you.

---------------

That's a good response.

I would add that with respect to our planet there are already plenty of volunteers to go to Mars, more than enough to start a colony if we actually had the means to do so. Not everyone is religious, and not everyone who is would view their religion as prohibiting this kind of resettlement.

 

[lpetrich]

My favorite solution is that ET's visiting the Solar System prefer environments like the outer Solar System, environments where they can get lots of raw materials very easily. By comparison, the Earth may be very awkward for them. For all we know, some such ET's may already have established colonies in the outer Solar System, colonies that we don't recognize because they look like small asteroids or whatever.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

This article goes in depth on one of my theories for the Fermi Paradox that I laid out in several posts. I've never seen it anywhere else.

We Can’t Find Any Alien Neighbors and Virtual Reality Might Be to Blame

http://singularityhub.com/2015/08/2...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

It's extremely unlikely.

Actually, the Fermi Paradox isn't a "paradox" so much as the other of all begged-questions. And the answer turns out to be pretty concise:

In summary: there are ALOT of things that would have to happen all at the same time for us to become aware of intelligence, advanced, spacefaring alien life forms in the universe. The odds that such civilizations exist is CONSIDERABLY higher than the odds of our being aware of it.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

 

[BillJ]

Actually, the Fermi Paradox isn't a "paradox" so much as the other of all begged-questions. And the answer turns out to be pretty concise:

In summary: there are ALOT of things that would have to happen all at the same time for us to become aware of intelligence, advanced, spacefaring alien life forms in the universe. The odds that such civilizations exist is CONSIDERABLY higher than the odds of our being aware of it.

Awesome.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Superb analysis, Crazy Eddie.