[extropy-chat] cosmic silence

[spike]

> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Russell Wallace
> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] damien's psi book
> 
> On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 22:43:29 -0800, spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> > So where are the others?
> 
> I've never understood why people are so unhappy with this idea; what's
> to be unhappy about? It's not as if we have any practical need for the
> existence of aliens...

Want or not want is orthogonal to my puzzlement about
why they are not there.  Even still, I disagree with
the notion that we have no practical need for the
existence of aliens, but that's a whole nuther topic.  

> However, one doesn't particularly need to assume their nonexistence
> either; one can simply postulate that the speed of light is as
> absolute a barrier as it appears to be...

I do assume that the speed of light is absolute, and that
we have no magic physics yet to be discovered.


> Then the nearest
> extraterrestrial civilization could be a billion years older than we
> are and be perfectly consistent with observation, provided they're at
> least a billion light years away so signals or probes from them
> haven't had time to reach us yet. Would you be happier with this
> explanation?
> 
> - Russell

Well, no.  I'm focused on the galaxy for now.  I'm
not ready to accept the notion that technological
civilizations are short-lived.  The Drake equation,
as I understand it, suggests tech-capable civs must
be short lived.  Otherwise we are hard up for an
explanation for why we aren't hearing or seeing
them.

spike