[ExI] Tabby's star

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf
Of BillK
...

 

>...I agree that it seems to be pretty impossible for us to guess what
advanced aliens might build. For example, many people seem to find it
impossible to accept that aliens wouldn't be expansionist (like us) and want
to colonise the galaxy. Therefore advanced aliens don't exist.

 

>...However, every intelligent species wants to solve problems and
investigate their environment, so they will all develop some form of
computing. And they will want to maximise this ability. But It may be this
path that leads to them not expanding. After all if your computer tech
fulfils every need, why do anything else?

 

>...BillK

_______________________________________________

 

 

Ja!  What if... there is some really significant math problem, analogous to
Riemann's zeta function hypothesis for instance, that eventually occurs to
intelligent species other than ours.  Since I used that as an example, why
not that one?  It gets deeper and crazier every time you look at it, well,
what Riemann's zeta function just keeps unpacking new goodies the deeper one
digs?

 

Think it over for a minute: there is nothing human-specific in the zeta
function that any other intelligent species wouldn't discover.  I like it
best described in terms of the integral:

 

 



 

 

Or if you like summation notation better, my point can be made that way too:

 



 

Any intelligent species will eventually discover integration and series
summation, all that.  I can imagine no path to interplanetary space without
having discovered both of those concepts.  Any intelligent lifeform would
discover e, and would discover all the rest of it.  My conclusion is that
every intelligent spacefaring species of any kind would have to know about
Riemann's zeta function, even if they had a different name for it and
different symbols, they would find it.

 

Imagine that the species gets into a mode where it focuses everything on
that problem.  It doesn't care about talking to others and waiting for
replies.  It uses its available metal and energy to work on this problem, or
one of the others.  There might be future math problems that cause us to
turn inward.

 

Notice there is nothing anthropomorphic in the above conjecture: a problem
exists, it has enormous consequences.  So. perhaps intelligence species
naturally get caught in one or more of them, and don't worry much about
fanning out through the galaxy.

 

Perhaps math creates the Fermi filter without actually slaying everything.
I hope that's it.

 

spike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





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