[ExI] Virtual Reality is where the aliens are

[Ben]

Spike wrote:

"In 1974, SETI transmitted intentional interpretable signals at a frequency
which makes this humble planet the brightest object in the galaxy at that
frequency.  If there is anyone out there watching, they know of us"


But that wasn't even 100 years ago!  Let's say it was 100 years ago, to 
make the numbers easy for my tiny brain.  How big is the galaxy? About 
100 000 ly across?  So to even see the extent of our (extremely 
attenuated) signal now, you'd have to have a model of the galaxy about 1 
metre across, and the signal area would be a fat dot near the edge.

So this humble planet might be the brightest object at that frequency in 
a sphere less than 100ly across, but so what?  Less than 15 000 stars 
will have seen that signal so far.  Out of probably a few hundred 
billion.  What's that, 0.000015%?

We need to wait another 999 times 100 years  before saying "If there is 
anyone out there watching (and they happened to be looking in the right 
direction at the right time), they know of us". Then another 100 000 
years for a return signal to let us know that they know of us.  OK, 
those are extremely simplified numbers, and we aren't on the very edge 
of the galaxy, but you get the idea.

I think of the situation as a bit like a firefly in a continent-sized 
forest, emitting one brief flash of light, waiting a tiny fraction of a 
second, then concluding that there are no females in the whole forest.

Ben Zaiboc