Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
Given that the Universe has been around for around 14 billion years, I don't think it's likely that we're the first to achieve our level of technology. Given that we've so far found no trace of any other civilization, I do think it highly likely that technological societies can only advance so far before they self-destruct.
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I've always thought that it's highly likely that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, however I don't think that it's necessary to have self-destruction of technologically advanced societies, even if that is apparently our way. Fermi's paradox makes a big assumption - that any alien society is *more* advanced than us. What if they are also sitting on their little mudball in the back of beyond wondering where *we* are? It doesn't help that we are essentially only looking for aliens just like us - corporeal beings who perceive reality in certain ways (eg 3 spatial dimensions) and communicate in the same ways (signals on particular wavelengths of the EMS).