Your Interesting Thought for the Day
Tue, Dec. 29th, 2009 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scarlettinaSustainable Aliens: A New Theory On Why E.T. Hasn't Arrived Yet
What's interesting to me about this (and there are many, many elements about this that are interesting to me) is that I've been slowly, ever-so-slowly working on a piece about sustainability on an alien world, an idea that's grown at a glacial pace out of my trip to Africa two years ago....
What's interesting to me about this (and there are many, many elements about this that are interesting to me) is that I've been slowly, ever-so-slowly working on a piece about sustainability on an alien world, an idea that's grown at a glacial pace out of my trip to Africa two years ago....
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Date: Wed, Dec. 30th, 2009 04:02 pm (UTC)*^*^*^*
The hypothesis the galaxies should be teeming with intelligent life depends on the idea that they develop "quickly," for galactic values of quickly. Ben Bova kicked around in the 1970s the idea that h. sap. may turn out to be one of the "old ones," and while sentience may be widespread, we may be among the first.
Another possibility, related to the idea of sustainability, is that while sentience, again, is widespread, fossil fuels and the jump start they provide to industrialism are not. That could mean having to negotiate a quantum jump from animal-and-plant power straight to nukes (just about all "sustainable" energy sources being greatly helped by a fossil fuel kickstart). Such a transition may not be impossible, but it may be as rare as it sounds.