[ExI] Fermi Paradox (was: Anders Sandberg)

[Ben Zaiboc]

Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:

 >If civilizations are common and we don't see or hear from any of them, 
that has dire implications for humanity's future.


Not necessarily. This doesn't have to imply a 'big filter', it could 
just be a consequence of physics. We're probably all familiar with the 
argument that the speed of light imposes big penalties on any 
large-scale expansion of advanced civilisations. Maybe they all 
inevitably expand 'downwards', into the nanoscale and further, and end 
up being vast and enormously long-lived societies (subjectively) that 
have no discernible footprint on the cosmos. We've still barely begun to 
comprehend the implications of Feynman's famous statement that "There's 
plenty of room at the bottom".

Maybe the answer to the question 'Where are they?' is 'everywhere', but 
they are still forever unreachable, and even undetectable.


Ben Zaiboc