Le 26-juin-06, à 08:48, Ron Hale-Evans a écrit :
>
> Hi all,
>
> Long-time listener, first-time caller.
Welcome.
>
> My favourite answer to the Fermi Paradox has been that the aliens are
> using nearly-perfect compression or encryption for their radio signals
> (if they're using radio), and that's why all we can detect is noise.
Cute.
>
> However, tonight another "answer" occurred to me. What if we're living
> in a finite simulation? (Yes, I know we might be living in more than
> one at the same time.) Supposing this simulation has a physical
> substrate, and we're not in a Permutation City scenario, then the
> substrate must be finite and therefore so must the simulation. Maybe
> there are only enough computing resources to simulate the Earth and
> environs. We don't see any aliens because none are being simulated.
If we are in a digital simulation then we are in "Permutation City"
scenario. We do "belong" to all possible simulations, and your new
answer does no more work. The preceding one is much more appealing.
And this is more true given that we can expect higher civilization
trying not to perturbate lower civilization if only for they scientific
studies of their alien lifes (to which we would belong).
>
> Why just the Earth and environs? Well, a finite simulation has to stop
> _somewhere_. Maybe planet-sized simulations have a high measure
> because they're "just the right size" for some purpose. I'm again
> reminded of _Permutation City_ with the "Autoverse" that was really
> just Planet Lambert and its surrounds.
>
> Has this "solution" to the Fermi Paradox been thought of before?
> Thoughts?
Yes, and I have already criticize similar reasoning (assuming comp).
Perhaps you could see:
http://www.mail-archive.com/everything-list.domain.name.hidden/msg05272.html
But I find your first solution much more realist than many explanations
of the Fermi paradox. Of course, such explanation belongs to the
family of "the alien want us not knowing they are studying us"
solution. There is still the problem of the rest of their non cryptic
radio waves which they would have sended unintentionally in spaces
without encryption at the beginning ...
About aliens in our branch of our most probable and common histories, I
have really no definite opinion and consider this as a complex subject.
Bruno
http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/
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Received on Mon Jun 26 2006 - 05:40:34 PDT