[ExI] Old Chemically Mature Galaxies and Fermi Paradox

The Avantguardian avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com
Sat Nov 5 14:19:14 UTC 2011


----- Original Message -----
> From: Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se>
> To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> Cc: 
> Sent: Saturday, November 5, 2011 2:07 AM
> Subject: Re: [ExI] Old Chemically Mature Galaxies and Fermi Paradox
> 
> Dan wrote:
>> Maybe the age estimates are wrong, but it still seems like that 
> wouldn't explain nearer ones being less "chemically mature." Is 
> your suggestion that there's a process that resets the clock here -- and, 
> further, that this process is technological?
> 
> One reset mechanism that was suggested by Milan Circovic (and then, with some 
> minor input from me, developed by him into a paper with Robert Bradbury) is that 
> gamma ray bursts acts as the reset. The data suggests that gamma ray bursts were 
> much more common in the past, and it is not hard to imagine that every time one 
> hits a biosphere it slides back to a simple stage. If there is a number of 
> "ladders" to climb and the GRBs act as "snakes", then a 
> model with exponentially declining GRBs and lots of biospheres has a decently 
> sharp transition from simple to complex biospheres. I don't think this is a 
> good enough reset mechanism to answer the Fermi question, but it might be part 
> of an answer.

Although I do admit gamma ray bursts suck when they are pointed your way, why would that pose a threat to shielded machine-phase life? I think a more elegant solution is that no sufficiently intelligent species would waste the energy communicating at interstellar distance using a spherical wave. Unless the species is so succesful, widespread, and energy abundant that it is more economical for them to communicate by spherical wave rather than by one or more directed tight- beam masers or modulated IR lasers, or something similar.  Maybe once "I Love Lucy" reaches them, the will send a greeting to Lucille Ball or some such.  In any case, GRBs are a selling point for uploading that I never considered before.

Stuart LaForge


“Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution." -Clay Shirky




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