Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: Time is on our side?

Fermi Redux.
ER — (archived)

There's no way to predict this, of course, one way or the other, but there is some circumstantial evidence to say that it probably won't happen.

If we can do it (assuming we're not snuffed out accidentally or just wear out genetically or culturally), then certainly other civilizations in the galaxy must have already done so, perhaps many times. The fact that there are no other civilizations already here suggests either of three things true about ALL civilizations.

1) There are none out there, or are extremely rare, or
2) Interstellar colonization is impossible regardless of technological development, for some technical reason we still haven't identified, or
3) They have relatively short lifetimes by cosmic standards.

Of these three, the last seems most likely to me. I know this is stretching logic to the extreme, but when you're short of facts, you really haven't got much choice.

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