[ExI] Fermi question, was is a FTL drive a dream

[Ben Zaiboc]

Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> ha scritto:

> what about the much more trivial scenarios of a Brave New World where
> simply all that is simply going (gradually?) to disappear in favour of
> stability and stagnation and keeping clear of anthropic x-risks and making
> our planet resources last as long as possible?



Perhaps long-term survival is a Mount Improbable of very large proportions on the fitness landscape, and no-one has yet scaled it.

To a 'stable', localised civilizational ecosystem, existential risks are things outside their sphere of influence - gamma ray bursts, neighbouring supernovae, huge clouds of molecular hydrogen, etc.  All astronomical hazards, that anyone who doesn't spread out beyond their own star will be at risk from.  Maybe a tendency to stay at home because of light-speed limits or whatever, combined with these unavoidable astronomical risks, constitutes the 'great filter' that makes for an empty universe.  Anyone who stays at home eventually gets wiped out, and everyone stays at home, for other good reasons

Ben Zaiboc.