What do you think would finally be their, “Enough, we gotta say something!” situation?
Edit:
Put another way, what might serve as a cosmic icebreaker?
I suppose it depends on why they’re being quiet. If other civilizations view each other as competitors for rare resources like worlds that would be inhabitable with out large scale terraforming, then being loud may get your planet targeted. That’s the basis for the “Dark Forest” theory. I think that theory is interesting, but it’s a bit pessimistic in my opinion. What’s way more likely is, if there are other civilizations out there, the odds of them existing during the same time frame that we’re here, AND being close enough to receive radio waves in a timely fashion, AND are at a technology level to send and receive those radio waves… it’s all very very very unlikely.
For me, what’s way scarier is, it isn’t that everyone is being quiet, it’s that there isn’t any one else out there, and we’re one of the first civilizations to develop. If there were other highly advanced civilizations out there, there’d be signs of them, signs of their technology. Shit, I read that large ships moving at close to the speed light would generate detectable gravity waves. But so far, nothing.
The “Dark Forest” hypothesis is riddled with holes, it only works as the premise for a scary science fiction series and not as a real-world Fermi Paradox solution. The main problem with it is that life on Earth has been readily detectable for two billion years and there’s no reason a paranoid xenocidal alien species wouldn’t want to wipe that out preemptively, so we’d already be long dead if it were actually the case.
I don’t see why it’s scary to be the first. To the contrary, that means that our descendants will get to colonize the reachable volume of the cosmos without risk of running into a more advanced species that squashes them like bugs (whether deliberately or simply by having already occupied all the useful resources).
I agree about the Dark Forest hypothesis. Also the idea that other alien life just knew to be quiet up front is silly, for the same reason we’ve been blasting radio waves into the universe the moment we figured out how.
Nah, us being first is scary to me in the sense if life is nearly impossible to form, and we’re all alone, that means we can search planet after planet, after planet and only find dead lifeless environments. That’s not nearly as fun of a thought as the universe being full of life, and all the amazing discoveries we’d make exploring. That’s all I meant.
Yeah the DFH makes no sense. It requires that all forms of nearby alien life exist, but either choose to be completely silent (somehow) without knowing that other life exists, or to have found out that other life exists and chosen to be silent before broadcasting literally anything decipherable.
I know it’s so damn frequent that Occam’s Razor gets trotted out, but in this situation, I think the simplest explanation is probably the most likely. Life developing in general is insanely rare in the universe, and there is no law that states that life HAS to evolve into intelligent life that would develop technologies, and space travel.
For me, what’s way scarier is, it isn’t that everyone is being quiet, it’s that there isn’t any one else out there, and we’re one of the first civilizations to develop.
Why would you find that scary?
Is it because of the ‘great filter’ stuff, that there must therefore be something ahead of us in time that wipes us out (like self-inflicted climate change)? Or is it something like humans being awfully flawed to go down in universal history as the “first” intelligent and technologically advanced species? Or something else?
maybe if we’re the only and first one, our odds of ‘success’ are much lower, and aint nobody gonna show up to guide us. if millions of previous had already ‘succeeded’ then its likely smooth sailing with a well tread path.
That’s fine though, 10,000 Years of unguided human history got us here. We relatively just got started in science. It would be more scary if we saw derelict super structures.
I find the idea that life is insanely rare, and that 99.99999999999999999999 of every planet and moon is lifeless. Even if we some how find a way to explore the cosmos, we’ll be searching empty dead rocks for the rest of our species lives. That’s scary to me.
Transmit math equations into space, but make them all just a little wrong. If someone’s out there, they’ll come by to correct us.
Invent a warp drive.
Cue the T’Plana Hath landing.
Share with them generated videos of us hanging out with other alien species, having a good time, etc. and make it seem like they’re missing out.
“Wait, that earth video is AI-generated-- their hands only have five fingers!”
Say ‘Marco’ out really loud
Broadcast that we’ve discovered a cheap and hilariously effective FTL but to kick it off requires us to collapse the vacuum decay. We’re willing to do it and relocate to the other side of the universe, but we don’t want to destroy everything if anyone is around. Answer quick, we’re packing
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If I were trying to get quiet aliens to communicate, I would try to get earthlings to clean up their own mess. I can’t imagine an advanced civilization wanting to bother with the sad tragedy of humanity’s self-destruction. There isn’t a day where some random human isn’t killing another, and there’s usually some government that has organized some mass-kill army operation against another country – or, worse, it’s own people. Even omitting the bloodthirsty, power-hungry, greedy, and liars, the general population can’t get together to work for the common good.
Maybe we could start by fixing the climate catastrophe, getting the trash out of the ocean, and then getting food and housing to everyone. If I was an alien that’d been avoiding Earth, that’s the sort of thing that would get my attention.
There’s also the problem that an advanced civilization will seemingly always ruin a less advanced one with contact.
They might be staying away simply because they’re isn’t a solution to that issue.
@memfree this. A genocidal, ecocidal planet surrounded by space junk seems like an incredibly unappealing thing to contact.
Personally I think the idea that sapient aliens are likely to be better than us is pretentious.
Which is the perfect premises for a Colonial Invasion by a “superioristic” neighbor. Like the Belgians bringing Civilization to Congo, or France shining the lights of the Republic to North Africa (and S-E Asia). Or the Spanish, saving South America through Religion.
Please, Lizards Overlords, make haste; I have a feeling it is a matter of emergency right now.
Yeah, only the “enlightenment” comes at the price of getting your hands chopped of if you produce insufficient precious materials. No thanks.
Funny how you doomers somehow always expect that other advanced civilisations are somehow better in that regard.
Genuine question: do you think most intelligent life outside of Earth, of existent, is equal to or less advanced than Earth? Or at the same level in issues?
Because in that case, you’d become the doomer, cuz that’s depressing.
Drop a couple nukes on planets in a predictable order with a predictable time in between. They’ll reach out sooner or later once we get close enough.
Certainly not destroying ourselves or our own planet. We’re already doing that.
I wouldn’t. If you determine that other life is intentionally staying quiet, why would you not also theorize on why they stay* silent?
I like to imagine a sort of awkward strangers reasoning for it, personally, where it’s not a matter of anything untoward involved, so much as nobody able to decide how to break the ice. Supposing that, I wonder what the cosmic icebreaker might be?
Lure them with Reece’s Pieces.
Your so gnarp gnarp
Marcoooooo
Make them think some of them have already come to Earth for whatever reason.
Yeah, one way to do this is to start transmitting what sounds like one half of a phone conversation.
…
“Hi, how have you been?”
…
“Ugh that’s the worst. You coming by soon?”
…
“Nice I’ll get the barbecue ready.”
…
“A functioning FTL drive you say?”
It depends on why they’re being quiet. In this scenario I think it’d be likely that they’re being quiet for some reason that’s literally incomprehensible to human-level minds, since they’re likely millions or billions of years more advanced than we are. So it’s impossible to predict what, if anything, might provoke them to break that silence.
I guess sending a probe there and having it physically poke them might get some kind of reaction, at least.
In this scenario I think it’d be likely that they’re being quiet for some reason that’s literally incomprehensible to human-level minds, since they’re likely millions or billions of years more advanced than we are.
Why’s that? It’s not an imposition on my part, especially given that unlike the usual scenarios where the reason one might imagine them to be more advanced is that they aren’t nearby and are capable of reaching us from afar somehow.
Scenario I’ve posed is pretty basic, say some extraterrestrial civilizations were nearby (say, we’re both able to travel & communicate in a more timely fashion than waiting decades for each trip/exchange), but they’re not talking to us because ??? and so…How might ya get’em to meet & talk?
end humankind and they will make an memorial of earth of how what not to become as species
Doom gloom doom gloom humanity sucks blaaaargh
