[ExI] Fermi Paradox and Transcension

[Mike Dougherty]

On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 2:40 PM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> It is not an 'attractor'. It is the inevitable path that intelligence
> follows. The idea appeals to me.

I want to participate in these Fermi discussions, but rarely have much to add.

Imagine standing in the middle of Times Square in New York City and
looking up at the buildings.  You will indicate yourself to be an
obvious tourist.  The NYC natives will likely ignore you as they
quickly walk past doing their various activities.  Now imagine you
have the audacity to say/think, "Nobody in NYC really communicates"
based solely on the fact that nobody communicates with YOU.  Ok, the
analogy quickly falls apart:  the advertising is clearly aimed at
making you want whatever product(s) - but suppose you don't read
english.  All that signage is just visual noise.

How much communication are we mistaking for noise?  How much
intelligence are we overlooking simply because we possess so little of
it ourselves?

On another perspective, consider a baby alone in its crib:  at the
moment it becomes aware of itself it recognizes that there is no other
in the crib like itself.  It may even have enough observational power
to notice that the room around the crib there also is no other
humanoid like itself.  It isn't until the crying begins that a parent
enters the room.  Humanity is a big baby in this scenario and hasn't
done anything noteworthy enough to attract attention of another.

Of course all the other scenarios are equally (or more) plausible...