We just live too far apart.
Baseless speculation. Might as well say demons are in the earth hiding.
Looks like another journalist just finished reading The Dark Forest
Population growth compounds, though. Once you’ve colonized a million worlds, the next million would come in a fraction of the time of the first million, and the next 2 million in less time than that, then 4 million in the same time as before, etc. Like grains of rice on a chessboard. Totally feasible to fill a galaxy if FTL travel is achieved.
More likely - FTL is impossible so each species is stuck in their own solar system.
The number show that with the right technology, meaning ships can accelerate to 0.05c and we can convert asteroid fields to self-sustainable habitats, a civilization could colonize the Milky Way in about 200,000 years. A blink of the eye in cosmological time scales. FTL isn’t necessary, except perhaps for cohesion.
Yeah, it’s really hard for the human brain to intuitively grasp exponential growth. Anyone who says a galaxy is “too big” hasn’t actually run the numbers on that.
FTL is impossible so each species is stuck in their own solar system.
FTL is in no way necessary to allow for interstellar colonization to proceed.
Even if another life existed out there at an ideal distance to be receiving our first radio signals now, and they could receive it, and they were at a similar enough technology level…
This would also mean they were ~100LY away, or a 200 year cycle to communicate, once they deciphered our signal.
They wouldn’t receive the signal if they’re at the same tech level. Radiation from our communication tapers off well below background levels at 100ly. Maybe if they got lucky and had very, very sensitive instruments aimed our way at the right moment, they might detect something that didn’t fit background, but our power output pales in comparison to the cosmos.
Just look at all the tricks scientists have to pull to communicate with Voyager, and it’s not even outside of the frigging solar system, yet!
Yep. Inverse square rule has our radiation signature indistinguishable from cosmic background in a quick fast hurry. In fact, we don’t have the power to transmit anything far even on purpose!
Not to be “that guy” but they left the solar system in 2012 and 2018, as in crossed the heliopause and the “wall of fire”.
Your point stands, but I thought you might be interested to know that :)
Here’s an article about it https://www.iflscience.com/nasas-voyager-spacecraft-found-a-30000-50000-kelvin-wall-at-the-edge-of-our-solar-system-81411
Voyager isn’t even to the Oort cloud. It’s nowhere near past many, many gravitationally bound objects. It might be past the heliopause, but it’s still very, very close to the Sun and no other stars.
Assuming they are existing at a tech level similar or above to ours at the same time as us.
Yeah with all the time in the universe and how short our civilization has been technological I’m a big fan of the theory that the galaxy is just a big graveyard of civilizations that sprouted and died over the past few billion years. Maybe there’s another few right now dotted around but we’ll never know before we or they die out.
The universe is kinda sad honestly.
