[ExI] ETs/Aliens

[Keith Henson]

On Wed, Aug 21, 2024 at 2:48 AM BillK via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
snip

> The main problem with discussing the Fermi paradox is the old
> "known unknowns and unknown unknowns" quote.  :)

We know there is one example, us.  We also "know" that there is (or
was) nothing out there that did not look natural--until Tabby's Star
and the others in the cluster showed these dips in the light output
that are larger than a planet.

Now a 22% dip in light is not something that you would expect from a
planetary civilization, but if a species left its planet and
constructed an orbital Dyson patch, it is something you might expect.
We are already thinking about putting data centers in space to supply
the computation needed for AI training.

Do the dips make sense in such a context?  I think they do, but that
is partly because of my background in designing radiators for thermal
power satellites and my thoughts on speed-of-light problems.  (You
have to radiate all the incoming energy after using it for
computation.)  I can't expect the engineering details of
low-temperature radiators to be widely understood or appreciated.

> This paper has been much discussed on the internet (as might be expected).
> A quick search found -
> <https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kvZshdx5FzTPjyhxG/the-fermi-paradox-has-not-been-dissolved>
> and the Robin Hanson post -
> <https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/try-try-or-try-once-great-filterhtml>
> which suggests that if life is extremely rare, we should be extremely
> surprised that it originated on earth.
>
> On earth, research suggests that life began almost as soon as the
> planet originated.
> This implies life could be common, but 'intelligent life' more rare.
>
> Anyway, if you are a cryonics supporter, (and can afford it), you
> probably have better reasons than 'There might be aliens'
> uncontactable light years distant away.  :)

The closest of the dipping stars is 511 LY.  While that's a long way,
it's not out of reach if you can control your clock rate. The question
of whether are there ETs is a really interesting one.

Keith



Keith

> BillK
>
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat