[ExI] endpoint of evolution

[Ben Zaiboc]

JOSHUA JOB <nanite1018 at gmail.com> mused:

> so it is quite possible
> a vast majority of civilizations develop, create all the
> technologies that we think are amazing (mind uploading,
> cognitive enhancement, strong AI, etc.) and then stay inside
> their star system, with an ever increasing computational
> capacity but permanently bound to a small region of the
> Universe.
> 
> I've never put much into the Great Filter idea. Someone
> would break through somewhere. I think rapid escalation of
> subjective time of communication is far more likely. Though
> I would think some faction would want to stay thoroughly
> tied to reality, rather than dive into virtual worlds.

I'm ambivalent about the Great Filter myself, but I do think the Fermi Paradox probably tells us that the speed of light is indeed an unbreakable boundary (or that we are living inside a simulation, or that we are quarantined, or...).

I'm quite attracted to the idea that advanced civilisations would tread very lightly on the physical structure of the universe, and we are simply not able to detect them (the galaxy-spanning, ancient civilisation in Greg Egan's 'Incandescence' would be totally undetectable by us, for example), and maybe any desire to fiddle about with mega-engineering projects would soon focus on areas or scales that don't impinge on what we see in our telescopes.  Maybe there are very good reasons to live inside event horizons.  Maybe the real action is in the dark matter universe.  

From what we know of the evolution of life, it's very very doubtful that we are the only intelligences in the universe, or even this galaxy, but I don't think the Fermi Paradox is as paradoxical as it's made out to be.  I think SETI is a complete waste of time, simply from thinking about how BIG the place is.  Our radio front is like a ping-pong ball in the Black Forest.  It wouldn't surprise me if the galaxy could host thousands of highly advanced civilisations that knew nothing about one another.

All we can do is try our best to highly advance our own civilisation.

Ben Zaiboc