[ExI] for the fermi paradox fans

[Henry Rivera]

> On Jun 10, 2014, at 4:33 PM, "spike" <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
> [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of BillK
> ...
> 
>> ...The Fermi paradox concerns our own galaxy. Why hasn't our galaxy been
> colonised already? Where are the signs of life in our galaxy?  Where is
> everybody?
> 
> Oy that question has been driving me nuts for years.
> 
>> ...Whatever they are doing must be pretty fascinating to keep them so
> quiet.  :)  BillK
> _______________________________________________
> 
> I'll say.  Back in the 80s, Carl Sagan had us all convinced that life had to
> be short-lived, and that the Fermi paradox suggests it always nukes itself
> into oblivion.  But this presents a really exciting possibility, kinda like
> when you and I discovered girls.  Our brains were missing in action for a
> while, ja?  Something really exciting came along, and we just weren't as
> interested in our legos and GI Joes anymore.  The modern version of that is
> how the internet came along and replaced television: way more interesting
> and interactive.  I haven't had television for nearly 8 yrs now and I don't
> miss it.  So this explanation of the Fermi silence suggests we will soon
> find something so cool and interesting, we won't really care what goes on in
> distant galaxies.  I hope I live to see that.
> 
> spike
> 
Along those lines, I suppose, I have a possible answer or two. It's roughly outlined in Tim Leary's Exo-Psychology. The basic idea being that life's ultimate evolutionary form is what we might call ghost- or spirit-like. Something like uncontained consciousness. Such beings might not have any spacecraft or hardware to encounter us nor any need or method of interfacing with us solid-body-matter types. 

And/or higher intelligence always eventually finds a way to transcend this universe/dimension/reality leaving the embryonic environment we refer to as our universe. Archeological remnants of those lifeforms would still exist on some host planets out there, presumably, but we would find them abandoned if at all. 

Perhaps the trajectory of intelligence/consciousness throughout the universe is:
Single cell life->multicellular life forms->complex "animals"->sentient "animals"->sentient "animals" with technology-enhanced manufactured parts -> sentient completely manufactured beings -> sentience without the constraints of the physical realm and/or the need for embodiment. 

I'm suggesting all that could routinely happen on planets before anyone out there has a chance or means to really venture out into the vast universe in a biological or hybrid form.  They could devise a way to explore at sub-light speeds once they do not have the limitations of biological forms (I mean given how long such journeys would be). But with exponential technological progress, the jump from {sentient completely manufactured beings} to {sentience without the constraints of embodiment} might happen rather quickly before they have a chance to send out such ambassadors. 

How's that for thinking outside the box?
-Henry