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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2013-08-26 16:25, BillK wrote:<br>
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<blockquote
cite="mid:CAL_armhdzzARKC_XPjvpUFr4ZcJ0OrDVCJrCZreUeX9_aeTnog@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
So we don't even need a civ capable of relativistic travel. Just
fire
off some probes to spam the galaxy. 10 million years is tiny
compared
with the billions of years existence of the galaxy.
There should be a traffic jam of probes flying past the solar
system.
Unless 'intelligence' decides that is a silly thing to do........<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
And our paper shows that you need to consider a few million or
billion more galaxies if relativistic travel is feasible.<br>
<br>
To quote from an earlier presentation I did:<br>
<br>
The silence in the sky is pretty talkative… it is just hard to guess
what it is saying:<br>
<ul>
<li>Either a low technology ceiling (transhumanists are overly
optimistic)</li>
<li>Or high existential risk (bad news, we need to figure it out…
but it might not help!)</li>
<li>Or strong convergence (Is this something we want? Is it moral
convergence?)</li>
<li>Or one dominant old species (we better figure out the rules)</li>
<li>Or we are simulations (we better be interesting)</li>
<li>Or we are indeed alone (BIG responsibility to safeguard life
and consciousness)</li>
</ul>
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And if the intergalactic expansion argument works then existential
risk, convergence, the power of old civs or our isolation needs to
be many orders of magnitude stronger than the normal assumption.
Reality is weird. <br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University
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