Fermi Paradox solution?

[Marc]

The Fermi paradox, named after Enrico Fermi creator of the first nuclear reactor. On the subject on alien life visiting us he said, "But where is everybody?" If so many billions of star systems have developed before ours and interstellar travel is possible. Why aren't they already here?

Some say they are, but they're invisible or that we're under a no interference space notice. Others say that though life might be common, Intelligent advanced life is very, very rare. Many other say that this is as far as they get before they kill off their advanced high-tech civilization with nuclear weapons or global weather interference and that this will likely happen to us.

Yesterday it occurred to me that as we advance, we tend to weaponize those advances. We build fireworks, we build cannons, we build planes, we build bombers, we build a small nuclear reactor, we build an atomic bomb. Some say we shouldn't have all our eggs in one basket (Earth that is) and that we should spread out to insure our continued existence. What if we just happen to enlarge the problem? Quick interstellar travel could perhaps involve squeezing or folding of space itself. Imagine this as a weapon. Star systems, maybe whole galaxies, or even the entire universe could be turned into a black or white hole. The Fermi paradox removed. As soon as it happens, the whole universe gets rebooted.

Sleep tight.

 

[brianvds]

My own guess is one you mentioned: life is common, intelligent life vanishingly rare. Could of course also be that there are plenty of intelligent aliens; they don't contact us because they only contact intelligent beings.

But yes. it is also possible that some advanced technologies endanger the entire universe. Intelligent does not equate to wisdom. We are currently playing with fire w.r.t. the climate; perhaps we'll soon be playing around with collapsing the entire universe too.

 

[agedrelic]

Has anyone ever considered that maybe we are all part of a complex game being played by an alien species?
Consider why various structures appear across the globe such as the pyramids etc.
What about the many different examples of advanced technology which ha been discovered being used before by archeologists.
How about the way some advances in technology have tended to be developed at times in history when the overall intelligence of the human race at the time should have been incapable.
Climate change may be an element of the game which can be used to prompt reaction from the 'pawns'.(us)
Why was the game developed in the first place for use by the alien race? Maybe as a teaching tool for its own young, maybe as an advanced strategy game similar to our own computer games (only far more advanced and complex), or maybe for experimental purposes to ascertain what could happen in reality if an inferior race was allowed to develop.
Fantasy rubbish I hear your initial response but just for a second consider is it maybe even a possibility ??????

 

[Flowercat]

It is very easily proven how with simple tools the pyramids where build.
And the Egyptians where a highly functional and thriving society. They had a bunch of stuff figured out, like writing and even fashion.
There have always been times in human history that where full of innovation.
But there where also times where discovered knowledge and innovation where lost. Due to war, changing weather patterns etc.
Humans where always highly intelligent.
Other wise we would have never started to build homes, cook our food and change our environment so rapidly.
Also the reasons why many ancient buildings look similar are wast.
For example pyramids stand out from other buildings quite easily.
They require less material than a square.
Also just in general, religions tend to be similar to each ohter. It’s a similar thing with cultures.

 

[brianvds]

It is very easily proven how with simple tools the pyramids where build.
And the Egyptians where a highly functional and thriving society. They had a bunch of stuff figured out, like writing and even fashion.
There have always been times in human history that where full of innovation.
But there where also times where discovered knowledge and innovation where lost. Due to war, changing weather patterns etc.
Humans where always highly intelligent.

If anything, "primitive" humans were more intelligent than humans today; it requires more smarts to survive as hunter-gatherer than most of us will use during our mostly passive, predictable and sedentary lives.

Other wise we would have never started to build homes, cook our food and change our environment so rapidly.
Also the reasons why many ancient buildings look similar are wast.
For example pyramids stand out from other buildings quite easily.
They require less material than a square.

Also, the shape is more stable and less prone to collapse. Not to denigrate the considerable achievements of the ancient Egyptians, but in terms of technical know-how, Gothic cathedrals took rather more to build, not to mention such things as modern skyscrapers or space probes or electron microscopes.

No doubt, two thousand years from now people will believe the aliens must have helped us, because we couldn't possibly have done it by ourselves.

 

[Artyczar]

A very interesting conversation...as long as it stays within the realms of reality. I can see this thread begin skating the line of conspiracy theories, which it has already a little, and that is actually against the rules. Why? Because that's when people start to bring up that wonderful subject of religion and religious interpretation. All that crap becomes debatable, and that's not what this site is for. I'm not trying to throw a damper on what can essentially be an interesting conversation among creative people, but creative people can also color way outside of the lines and want to break the boundaries of provable truths and science. It then gets into the topic of belief (gods, aliens, advanced civilizations, etc.) and sooner or later, the thread gets shut down and people get angry with me or one of the moderators. So, tread lightly, and perhaps, use your brain.

 

[Bongo]

It is very easily proven how with simple tools the pyramids where build.

You're being sarcastic right? Or you know something no one else does.

As for the Fermi Paradox - here's my analogy.

There are billions of people on the internet, with sophisticated computers, and search engines, billions! Why haven't they found my website? How can that be? Or am I really alone on the web?

 

[Marc]

If anything, "primitive" humans were more intelligent than humans today; it requires more smarts to survive as hunter-gatherer than most of us will use during our mostly passive, predictable and sedentary lives.

There was a paper I read recently that detailed gene combinations which seem to correlate with higher IQ in present day people. Tests were done on Ancient Romans to search for these alleles, and they were higher in earlier Republican Rome than in later Imperial Rome. The greater part of this later free population was on a "Bread and circuses" state support; thus, they were removed from survival of the fittest selection pressures. Imperial Rome lasted a long time, but they seemed to have trundled along at a slightly lower IQ level. Perhaps that's why the innovation stopped advancing, and perhaps another solution to the Fermi paradox.

 

[Artyczar]

Where are these tests from ancient Rome's IQs?

 

[Marc]

I can't remember if this is the one, but it seems likely, look for this released on ResearchGate 'Intelligence tends on Ancient Rome: The rise and fall of Roman polygenic scores.' by Davide Piffer, Edward Dutton, and Emil 0. W. Kirkegaard.

 

[brianvds]

There was a paper I read recently that detailed gene combinations which seem to correlate with higher IQ in present day people. Tests were done on Ancient Romans to search for these alleles, and they were higher in earlier Republican Rome than in later Imperial Rome. The greater part of this later free population was on a "Bread and circuses" state support; thus, they were removed from survival of the fittest selection pressures. Imperial Rome lasted a long time, but they seemed to have trundled along at a slightly lower IQ level. Perhaps that's why the innovation stopped advancing, and perhaps another solution to the Fermi paradox.

So perhaps all civilizations fall into decadence and demographic collapse. But I doubt whether there really are universal laws of history. Solutions to the Fermi paradox tend to read our own issues into the aliens: nuclear war, ecocide, decadence etc.

We need but a single species of intelligent alien to survive per galaxy, for such a species to then spread throughout the whole galaxy. Perhaps this has not yet happened, or they haven't spread through the entire galaxy yet, or they are here but choose not to contact us.

We tend to assume to assume that something like Star Trek's warp drive is possible, but we don't really know. Maybe the speed of light is the barrier and there is simply no way to get past that, in which case the only way for a species to spread beyond its own solar system will likely be generational starships - basically mobile, self-sufficient colonies in space. Such things are not impossible in principle, but it means exploring the entire galaxy is a huge and long term project.

My own guess remains that the intelligent aliens simply don't exist. People tend to misunderstand how evolution works. There is no inherent drive towards ever greater intelligence. Intelligence is but one possible solution, and in our own case, its emergence was dependent on a long series of unlikely events. There may be more paths to intelligence, of course, but that is not to say all of them will be tried out.

Maybe we will eventually be the aliens spreading through the galaxy. But will we be buzzing around alien skies, abducting creatures? Maybe not - growing up in a generational starship means growing up in microgravity. Such people will no longer really be able to function in a normal gravitational field anymore, and what's more, they may actually have little desire to do so. A mobile colony that can get all it needs from harvesting comets in stars' Oort belts will be about as safe an environment as you can imagine; there may be very little incentive to approach any closer to stars.

Warp drive? Well, maybe. We don't know, and no one can predict future technological development - attempts to do so always end up looking pretty naïve.