Colonization Of The Milky Way Inevitable

[Gold Barz]

Some people argue the very low amount of technological civilizations in the Milky Way, some even say there is no other technological civilization in the galaxy, they argue this because they think the galaxy should have been colonized by now...I don't agree with this I don't think it will be inevitable or even that likely, also how do we know that it isn't colonized? please post your thoughts on this reasoning.

 

[GOD__AM]

There are 3 possibilities.

1. We are alone in the universe.

2. There is other life, but we have not made contact with it.

3. We are the first.

Arguing that the milky way should have been colonized by now is jumping the gun in my opinion. We know very little about any of the systems in our galaxy other than our own. Even in our own system we really can't be sure.

Right now the facts say there is no life other than us. Without evidence of some kind of life somewhere other than earth, we are just guessing.

 

[turbo]

There are 3 possibilities.

1. We are alone in the universe.

2. There is other life, but we have not made contact with it.

3. We are the first.

Let's consider that there are more than three possibilities:

4. We are not first, but we do not exist at the same time as a detectable civilization in our galactic neighborhood.

5. We are not alone, but our neighbors do not communicate by modulating EM signals.

There are a whole lot more possibilities - give it some thought.

 

[Pengwuino]

To be sure, there's no possibility that has any more chance of happening/having happened then the others. :)

 

[GOD__AM]

Let's consider that there are more than three possibilities:

4. We are not first, but we do not exist at the same time as a detectable civilization in our galactic neighborhood.

5. We are not alone, but our neighbors do not communicate by modulating EM signals.

There are a whole lot more possibilities - give it some thought.

Well number 2 obviously includes a lot of possabilities. Both of your examples are contained in number 2. Like I said we can make a lot of reasons/guesses as to why.

All three are very broad statements and aren't ment to imply that I am limiting the amount of posibilities.

 

[turbo]

Well number 2 obviously includes a lot of possabilities. Both of your examples are contained in number 2. Like I said we can make a lot of reasons/guesses as to why.

All three are very broad statements and aren't ment to imply that I am limiting the amount of posibilities.

I understand, but we must address the complexities that make these estimations at least "somewhat" useful. I have a friend who routinely says that winning the Lottery is a 50:50 proposition because "either you win or you don't". He says this very tongue in cheek, as you might expect.

 

[Pengwuino]

haha technically yes, it is a 50:50 proposition that you will win the lottery because you can either win or you can lose. The chances that your numbers will match the numbers picked however, are.. you know, whatever.

 

[Gold Barz]

I actually think that the rapid colonization of the whole Milky Way by atleast only one alien race is pretty unlikely, I think for it to be colonized that there must be other alien races involved in the mix...

 

[turbo]

Hi, Gold:

Before you consider that the galaxy must be widely populated, please consider a few things:

1) Other beings would have to be motivated to colonize the galaxy.
2) They would need incredible resources of energy and materials to colonize the other planets of their own solar system, compared to our own level of development. We cannot pull off this basic feat and may never be able to.
3) Interstellar colonization would be incredibly more expensive and difficult - I don't forsee humans doing this anytime in the next several thousand years, if ever.
4) An intelligence capable of doing #2 and #3 might be content to live in the environment in which they developed, or may not wish to spend the energy required.

There are a lot more possibilities - these are just a few...kick 'em around.

 

[sniffer]

5. We are not alone, but our neighbors do not communicate by modulating EM signals.

There are a whole lot more possibilities - give it some thought.

They communicate with dark energy signal ! . . .

that's why we cannot contact them.

 

[Astronuc]

There are 3 possibilities.

1. We are alone in the universe.

2. There is other life, but we have not made contact with it.

3. We are the first.

Right now the facts say there is no life other than us. Without evidence of some kind of life somewhere other than earth, we are just guessing.

With respect to 1, "we are alone in the Galaxy" would be perhaps be a more reasonable statement. We know very little about the universe, and what planets may exist in other galaxies. Could there be another planet(s) on the other side of the Milky Way, and we just don't see it. We are just now discovering exo-solar planets, most of which tend to large gas planets.

2. We certainly have not been contacted, but we're only had the capability for little over the century.

3. Or we could be last.

Right now the fact is - we simply don't know.

 

[Dr.Brain]

Of all the various possibilities, I digged out one more. As per me , the conditions we think which should be rot enough so that life can propagate ona planet are not accurate enough. As per modern science, the conditions should be earth-like, with water-ladden clouds.Isnt it possible perhaps there could be more fluids leaving water that can provide the necessary fuel to some other type of bodies not necessarily like that of homosapiens? , a class of beings who can only live under extreme climates? , a class of beings tougher than weak-earthians can ever think of?

BJ

 

[Chronos]

Stick to the evidence, no clue.

 

[sniffer]

our knowledge is probably only 0.000000000000000000000001% of the truth.

 

[ohwilleke]

Hi, Gold:

Before you consider that the galaxy must be widely populated, please consider a few things:

1) Other beings would have to be motivated to colonize the galaxy.
2) They would need incredible resources of energy and materials to colonize the other planets of their own solar system, compared to our own level of development. We cannot pull off this basic feat and may never be able to.
3) Interstellar colonization would be incredibly more expensive and difficult - I don't forsee humans doing this anytime in the next several thousand years, if ever.
4) An intelligence capable of doing #2 and #3 might be content to live in the environment in which they developed, or may not wish to spend the energy required.

There are a lot more possibilities - these are just a few...kick 'em around.

This is my inclination as well. Is it really rational to leave your own "Eden" to go to some "Hell" elsewhere in the universe at great expense and effort?

 

[setAI]

colonizing the random matter systems in a universe is probably fairly primitive- if your civilization has Universal Quantum Computers- or even just robust classical computational networks- you can have limitless universes/Time/ Space/dimensions/species/resources/etc anywhere you wish-why limit yourself to this 4D spacetime- living on chunks of matter?

 

[Gold Barz]

I don't get it...so its like a virtual universe?

 

[setAI]

I don't get it...so its like a virtual universe?

of course- although I would say that the 'virtual' part is redundant and misleading-