Re: Fermi's Paradox

From: Brent Meeker <meekerdb.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:09:17 -0700

Norman Samish wrote:
> We can all agree, I think, that many among us humans are irrational. What's
> more, many are obsessed with killing others who don't agree with them. The
> Conquistadors who killed the Aztecs and Incas "because God wished it so"

They subjugated the Aztecs and Inca for king and gold. European disease may have killed a lot of
them, but killing them off was not a purpose of the conquistadors - though they were certainly
revolted by the bloody sacrificial rites of the Aztecs.

>and
> the radical Muslims who kill the infidels "because God wishes it so" are of
> the same stripe.
>
> It's occurred to me that senseless killings argue for one particular
> solution of the Fermi Paradox ("If aliens exist, where are they?"). This
> solution is that it is the nature of intelligent organisms to destroy
> themselves as soon as they attain the capability..
>
> The diverse life forms on Earth suggest that the universe is probably
> teeming with low-order life forms. The lack of evidence to the contrary
> suggests that there are only a few intelligent life forms. Is this because,
> as soon as the intelligent life form evolves, it starts warring with itself
> and self-destructs?
>
> This may happen rapidly - there may be only a short time interval (100 or
> 200 earth-years) where radio transmissions that would be detectable on Earth
> are made.
>
> We haven't detected any transmissions from now-expired societies because the
> evolution of high-order life forms occurs only rarely, so alien radio
> transmissions are very rare.
>
> If this hypothesis is correct, mankind may be approaching its last days. I
> hope it's not correct. What do you think?
>
> Norman

I think it's implausible that people would kill off their species in war. On the other hand it may
well be that shortly after developing technology, they may well exhaust their planets resources or
pollute it to the point that a technological civilization is no longer possible.

Brent Meeker

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Received on Wed Jul 05 2006 - 21:10:22 PDT

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