NdGT is Great

[Minimalist]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/neil-...teresting/

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Aliens may have already decided we’re just not very interesting

[vorlon13]

We're first.

I've thought about this quite a bit, and I'm pretty firm in my conclusion. Picture our galaxy as a petri dish, the first civilization with the will and the technology can colonize the whole thing in a tiny fraction of the time it has existed.

We don't appear to live in a galaxy that looks like that . . .









yet.

[Vox Populi]

Maybe the alien's are waiting for us to develop warp drive before making first contact... haha not to quote Star Trek or anything. But, It could be a good possibility or they see all the destruction going on... and are like HOLY F*** lets bounce out of here!

[Alex K]

Maybe the alien's are waiting for us to develop warp drive before making first contact... haha not to quote Star Trek or anything. But, It could be a good possibility or they see all the destruction going on... and are like HOLY F*** lets bounce out of here!

More like let's send some undercover agents to make sure those guys don't develop warp drive...

[vorlon13]

They won't be subtle or nuanced.

Any successful life form will be subject to population pressure and the will to survive just like us. As soon as they have the technology they will expand to fill all available niches, from one end (STS) of the galaxy to the other.

Our galaxy has existed for well over 10 billion years, even with primitive nuclear impulse propulsion (1960s technology) the galaxy can be explored and colonize thoroughly in ~~10 million years.

If they were out there, we would know it. Every life bearing rock in the galaxy is in a race with all the others to have their hometown team 'win'.

We are still in the running, and to date, we are unopposed.

[abaris]

Any successful life form will be subject to population pressure and the will to survive just like us. As soon as they have the technology they will expand to fill all available niches, from one end (STS) of the galaxy to the other.

That's assuming they are also territorial apes like us. If some civilization is so much more advanced that space travel is possible, they have reached that level by not pushing the button to take themselves out of the equation. They have overcome nationalism as well as competitive religions or other ideologies. Only a united effort that isn't wasted on marking your own territory every step of the way, can hope to get that far.

[vorlon13]

No, the assumption is for only a single (other) life form like that to be ahead of us.

Millions of worlds with life forms that don't advance beyond the lichen stage don't count. It only takes a single instance of something (hopefully) like us in the last 3 or 4 billion years to 'win'. I'm not arguing there aren't millions of worlds in the competition, but it only takes that first one with suitable motivation and technology to make the goal post.

The 'pikers' (for lack of a better word) get subsumed by the winner.

[Cato]

Vorlon,
You're talking about the Fermi Paradox. First to market will have a huge advantage. I assume that the advantage was also the basis for Roddenberry's prime directive.

[vorlon13]

Yeah, I'm on board with Fermi on this.

Somebody has to be first. Turns out it is us.

It doesn't matter how many millions of benign, peace loving, non-expansionist civilizations there are in our galaxy, it just takes a single one that resembles every successful life form on our planet in having the ability and the will to populate the growth media fully.

We establish 1 successful colony, each colony begets a colony, and 'poof', thanks to exponential growth, you get full galaxy in some millions of years.

And when you have billions of years for that single life form to emerge form the primordial goo, you get to where you have someone like Fermi asking;

Where are they ??

[Cato]

I've also considered that we're not the first to advance technologically. What are the chances that other civilizations may have taken themselves out of the intergalactic race because of issues that today we seem unable to transcend. The power that will take us to other stars can more easily be deployed to settle local grievances with disastrous global consequences.