[ExI] Interstellar Travel is really hard

[spike at rainier66.com]

> On Behalf Of BillK via extropy-chat

> _______________________________________________


>... So nobody else has so far decided that spamming the galaxy or
re-engineering the galaxy is a good idea. We could be the first!

Oh my, can you even imagine the potential market sitting there just waiting
patiently to be exploited?  The first-to-market advantage is calling us
BillK.  The money to be made here, oh it makes my butt hurt.

>... Will posthumans think that colonising the galaxy is the best way to
spend resources?

Eh, think of it as investing resources.

>... They are supposed to be highly intelligent after all, with the advanced
knowledge to do almost anything they desire. Running the Metaverse with
universal uploading and eternal life may be much more preferable.  BillK
_______________________________________________


I have long considered that the best explanation for Fermi's paradox.  They
don't communicate with us because interstellar travel really is just too
difficult, they can't come here and (because of the time delays) they can't
really carry on trade.  So... it isn't worth expending the resources to do
interstellar communications.  It is too much like writing textbooks for
which you will not be paid.  

The problem with that theory is that on a very rare occasion, we do get a
person who will write a textbook (or make instructional videos) without
being paid, such as Sal Khan.  Of course he eventually did get paid, but he
has convinced me that isn't why he quit a very lucrative job and started
what he does now.  Somewhere out there, some advanced civilization might be
transmitting an interstellar Khan Academy, which is why I have supported
SETI all these years.

spike