[ExI] Silence in the sky-but why?

[Giovanni Santostasi]

Spike,
Just relax, we are the first ones.
Life is relatively abundant, intelligent life much less so.
Everything is fine, even if it would be cool to have galactic friends to
talk to.
But this could be good news too because it shows how important human beings
are. We have great responsability to seed the universe with intelligence
and creativity.
Giovanni


On Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 8:32 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

>
> Subject: [ExI] Silence in the sky-but why?
>
> Anders tackles the Fermi paradox.
>
> <http://phys.org/news/2013-08-silence-skybut.html>
>
> >...'We still don't know what the answer is, but we know it's more radical
> than previously expected.'
>
> ------------
>
>
> Of all the observed scientific anomalies that I know of, the misnamed Fermi
> paradox is absolutely the most vexing.  The more we study that question,
> the
> more clear it is that there is something fundamentally wrong with our
> models
> of everything we think we know about intelligence, evolution, space travel,
> everything.  If our current understanding of these things is anywhere close
> to correct, there has been plenty of time for intelligence to evolve and
> colonize everywhere in the visible universe, and the signals between
> civilizations should be easily detectible.
>
> After pondering all the possibilities, I am forced to conclude that
> apparently intelligence is inherently self-destructive or self-limiting,
> and
> that our current level of intelligence on this planet is anomalously high.
> It goes against everything I dream for and envision for the future of
> humanity: that the collective intelligence on this planet a century from
> now
> will me more like what it was a century ago, and a millennium from now more
> like what it was a million years past, more like what it was for the 99.99
> percent of the time since life existed.  In that view, intelligence is
> temporary always and everywhere.
>
> This view of the evolution of intelligence as a temporary random excursion
> from the boring mean, a spike rather than an S curve to a new and higher
> plateau, goes against everything I have always believed and hoped for, but
> it is the only way I have been able to explain Fermi's paradox.  This
> realization is in some ways worse than when my own fundamentalist religious
> notions crumbled to dust beneath my feet.   I do hope someone can talk me
> out of this grim conclusion.
>
> spike
>
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