Schuyler
Misanthrope
I can see both your points of view. I completely understand the 'arrogance' answer brought up by several folks. I am also well aware of ethnocentricism and anthropomorphism. I have been inculcated with those ideas by virtue of a very liberal education--in anthropology, initially, where they are treated as gospel. Woe be unto any student of anthropology who dares to make a value judgement about another culture! (Sidenote: I'm a contemporary of Obama's Mama, also an anthropology student. I could easily have dated her kid sister. She grew up less than 20 miles from me. I sure knew a lot of people just like her at the U-Dub.)
However, I think we have to work with what we've got, i.e.: what we (think we) know about the Universe. There may very well be 'other realities,' whether they be some sort of other dimension or something we haven't thought of, but we DO know there is THIS reality, the one we live in, and we've been able to find out some interesting facts about it. We've physically been to the Moon and vicariously been to most other planets in the solar system. We've also discovered planets in other star systems, so many that it appears likely planets are fairly common.
We've also discovered a few facts about our own planet, including the fact that there are six billion of us all over the globe in several thousand cities, all emitting light and energy. We take thousands of airplane flights a day and travel millions of miles in vehicles. We emit clear across the electromagnetic spectrum at all levels. We are VERY noisy. Though our technology may not be as advanced as a civilization thousands of years ahead of us, it is still largely a technological civilization. I do not believe it is arrogant to suggest that if someone else is here, they would know we are here, too. We're pretty hard to ignore. I also believe that it is in the nature of intelligence to be curious. In fact, it is a survival factor. Predators, on the whole, are the most curious of all.
Now, the Fermi Paradox is very much an outgrowth of the ETH. That's what Fermi (1901-1954) had in mind when he came up with it. Given when he lived that is not surprising. Alternative hypotheses were not as popular as they are today. I don't happen to be a proponent of the ETH, but given that context, I think you can come to some conclusions.
1. They might be ignoring us on purpose. If there are not very many of them, that would be a practical consideration.
2. They might be subject to the Prime Directive. If we could think that up, so could they.
3. That speed-of-light light thing might be real. Perhaps they can't get here. Whether that is 'on purpose' or not, who knows?
What I'm suggesting here is that the argument that we are ants to their vast intellect, or that they are so advanced that they don't care to deal with us are not very good answers. Ants didn't come up with E-MC(2) or fly to the Moon. That might be true, of course. It would be foolish to arbitrarily discount it entirely.
But I doubt it.
However, I think we have to work with what we've got, i.e.: what we (think we) know about the Universe. There may very well be 'other realities,' whether they be some sort of other dimension or something we haven't thought of, but we DO know there is THIS reality, the one we live in, and we've been able to find out some interesting facts about it. We've physically been to the Moon and vicariously been to most other planets in the solar system. We've also discovered planets in other star systems, so many that it appears likely planets are fairly common.
We've also discovered a few facts about our own planet, including the fact that there are six billion of us all over the globe in several thousand cities, all emitting light and energy. We take thousands of airplane flights a day and travel millions of miles in vehicles. We emit clear across the electromagnetic spectrum at all levels. We are VERY noisy. Though our technology may not be as advanced as a civilization thousands of years ahead of us, it is still largely a technological civilization. I do not believe it is arrogant to suggest that if someone else is here, they would know we are here, too. We're pretty hard to ignore. I also believe that it is in the nature of intelligence to be curious. In fact, it is a survival factor. Predators, on the whole, are the most curious of all.
Now, the Fermi Paradox is very much an outgrowth of the ETH. That's what Fermi (1901-1954) had in mind when he came up with it. Given when he lived that is not surprising. Alternative hypotheses were not as popular as they are today. I don't happen to be a proponent of the ETH, but given that context, I think you can come to some conclusions.
1. They might be ignoring us on purpose. If there are not very many of them, that would be a practical consideration.
2. They might be subject to the Prime Directive. If we could think that up, so could they.
3. That speed-of-light light thing might be real. Perhaps they can't get here. Whether that is 'on purpose' or not, who knows?
What I'm suggesting here is that the argument that we are ants to their vast intellect, or that they are so advanced that they don't care to deal with us are not very good answers. Ants didn't come up with E-MC(2) or fly to the Moon. That might be true, of course. It would be foolish to arbitrarily discount it entirely.
But I doubt it.
