@SavoirFaire Thanks. I enjoyed reading it too, and that’s why I shared it. It is thought provoking. Since we have managed to avoid mutually assured destruction now for 65 years and counting, I am more sanguine about our immediate prospects than Mr. Krauthammer appears to be. If we are to go by means of a self inflicted wound, then I suspect it That he is right that it will be a religious zealot convinced his act of mass suicide will launch him and those who share his faith into a heavenly realm and not oblivion.
All three of your points on why we may not have heard from our nearby neighbors are valid.
@ariah Thanks. I’d just note that the Universe is about 13.75 billion years old. Galaxies began to form toward the end of its first billion years. In contrast, our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago. That means that other habitable planets (who even knows what habitable means?) were likely formed well over 8 billion years before ours. So alien life may have had a significant head-start on getting intelligent, and may have sent some form of messages out a very long time ago.
@LuckyGuy Excellent point.
@Jaxk That’s an interesting response. Very true. If nothing wipes us out before the end of our sun, as it runs out of fuel it will transition into thermonuclear reaction of heaver materials. As it does, it will become a red giant with its corona expanding to engulf the entire earth, instantly vaporizing all water here and destroying all life. And so it goes for other stars as well, THe large ones supernovae, with instant devastation in their local area. The smaller ones like our sun become red giants and swallow up, often melting and eating all planets out to their “habitable zone.” So to last any significant time, life must rapidly evolve to be intelligent enough to move on. And moving across thousands of light years isn’t a non-trivial task.
@SmashTheState I take your point on technology. Very true. Oh, and what’s wrong with space explorers wearing sea boots and mini-skirts. I personally hope that if they visit us, they are attired in perfect Star-Trek manner. If they have been reviewing our old media broadcasts on the way to us, they just may be. I’m ready for a ship full of Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) look-alikes to arrive any time they want. :-)
@ragingloli Given the almost infinite vastness of the Universe and its number of galaxies and stars, I think the it is safe to assume that life is out there—even intelligent life. And it is further safe to assume there are lots of examples. While communications via tachyons or through wormholes is currently highly speculative, with no proof existing that there is any such thing, it does further highlight a point a number of other posters raised other posters. We may be sitting in the midst of a chatroom and yet missing all the chatter because we have no receivers for it, or because it isn’t being directed to us. Now why didn’t Fermi know that?