Fermi Paradox Predicting Humankind's Future?

An anonymous reader writes "The Fermi paradox says that if extraterrestrial civilizations exist, at least one of them should have colonized the entire galaxy by now. But since there is no evidence of this, humankind must be the only intelligent life in the galaxy. The Space Review has an article on how the Fermi paradox can be applied to human civilization. It says that, like the extraterrestrials, humans have three choices: colonize the galaxy, remain on Earth, or become extinct."

Obligatory

[Praseodymn]

I, for one, welcome our new paradoxical overlords.

Re:Fermi paradox

[ScentCone]

Earth hasn't colonized the galaxy by now. Ergo, Earth doesn't exist.

Excellent. That means I don't have to sweat the deadline on that network redesign thing I've been fighting with. Thanks!

Re:More likely

[Anonymous Coward]

we could be the first advanced race and as we reach out amoung the stars we shall find other less advanced races.

... Lord help them

Re:The real choices:

[HTH NE1]

You forgot choice zero:

0. Blow up the Earth and become extinct right now.

Sigh..

[kraemate]

Well, what's the use of wondering about so far into the future? I feel too depressed reading about it. Oh no, i'd rather be upset when they say that all crytography algorithms will be cracked within 10 million years, and someone will crack my password and start posting with my uber-low slashdot UID (remember folks, we are talking about ~1000000 AD here).

Re:Fermi paradox

[Chacham]

If spacefaring civilizations exist, they should have colonized the galaxy by now.

Earth is a spacefaring civilization.

Earth hasn't colonized the galaxy by now.

Ergo, Earth doesn't exist.

So say we all.

If a decent slashdot comment exists, it would generate a decent response.

Your comment [slashdot.org] was a decent slashdot comment.

Your comment has not generated a decent response.

Ergo, your comment doesn't exist.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:The fermi paradox is wrong

[roman_mir]

Someone watched way too many X-Files episodes I think. The Truth Is Out There, Trust No One, Deny Everything and I Want to Believe are really great slogans, but they don't make it the case that aliens even bothered to leave their solar systems and go somewhere to give some strange creatures across the galaxy some anal probing. Of-course if anything did move us towards colonization of the Galaxy, Hot Alien Porn would be the most likely reason to do it.

Re:More likely

[SirWhoopass]

It is very easy for humans to ramp up to 10 offspring for 2 parents.

You must not have children of your own.

Re:NASA Called...

[ZachPruckowski]

For some reason, they don't take orders from somebody on Slashdot with a 900k+ user ID.

Does that imply that there exists a person on Slashdot with a sufficiently low UID to give orders to NASA?

Re:More likely

[Smallpond]

If you live in a typical suburban neighborhood, there are at least 200 houses within a 30-minute walk. How many have you visited? How many would you visit if it took the entire output of your civilization for 10 years in order to visit?

Anyway, amongst the nearest alien species this is called the "Brakloo'tj Paradox".

It's our Manifest Destiny!

[dpbsmith]

Clearly, then, humankind has the right, nay the obligation to expand throughout the universe.

We should terraform any planets that are not already Earthlike, use the energy of however many stars it takes to achieve our goals, and find some black hole into which to pitch any planets that become inconveniently polluted.

Any semi-intelligent life we encounter along the way will obviously be inferior, since it has not colonized the universe first. If it gets in our way (or even if it doesn't) we should trample it under our jackboots, but only if necessary. Whenever possible we should altruistically force them to accept the inestimable benefits of the English language, democracy, and McDonald's hamburgers.

Re:More likely

[Canthros]

bald[...]
3. lacking detail; bare; plain; unadorned: a bald prose style.
[....]

Welcome to the Internet. Here is your dictionary. [reference.com]

(In case the misunderstanding was intentional, I do apologize for the unnecessary pedantry.)

Re:Remain for how long?

[anorlunda]

Quite true. The upper limit for how long we can stay on earth is about 1 billion years. After that the sun turns red giant and the earth is engulfed below the sun's surface.

One should point out that survival and colinization by our species does not require transport of any individuals. We need merely to transport DNA of our species (plus whatever companion plant and animal species desired). A space probe loaded with DNA might weigh only a gram or so.

If one hypothesizes that other intelligent species exist, then we need only to transmit our DNA code via radio. A receiving species could then directly sythesize humans from the code plus the easy-to-follow instructions included. If they did so however, I might question the quality of their intelligence. We need to fool them somehow by sending messages that entice them to "click here" despite better judgement. That's it! The future of mankind rests in the hands of spammers.

Re:More likely

[kinabrew]

Oh he will. We'll make sure of it.

Re:More likely

[Vampo]

We may be marked as a "potential revisit"

I believe the correct term is "Mostly Harmless"

Re:More likely

[indytx]

The point is, unless they set up an "Alien Burger" on the moon with a sign forty miles on a side, we'd never know they were around.

I think it's more likely that they would set up a restaurant that serves Swedish meatballs. Everyone has a version of Swedish meatballs.

Let's find out.

[DG]

Slashdot Low User ID Operations Order 001

1. SITUATION: the Fermi Paradox compels us to populate the Galaxy or become extinct.

2. MISSION: NASA will design, test, build, staff, and deploy a fleet of interstellar colony ships for the purposes of populating the galaxy.

3. EXECUTION: This mission will take place in 6 phases:

a. Design a colony ship;

b. Test the colony ship;

c. Build a fleet of colony ships;

d. Staff and populate the colony ships with suitable colonists;

e. Deploy the fleet; and

f. Monitor the colonies and provide support as appropriate.

4. SERVICE SUPPORT

a. Funding: no change.

5. COMMAND AND SIGNALS: no change.

There! Let's see if that works.

DG

Re:More likely

[jc42]

If they were here in the first 99% of those 10 billion years, they would have missed us. We may be marked as a "potential revisit" but the likelihood of any existing lifeforms knowing that we are here is very small.

Actually, if they are living (or have automated monitors) within a radius of roughly 80 light years, they know we're here. We've been broadcasting our presence via radio waves for about that long now, and our broadcasts are unmistakably "intelligently designed".

Of course, it just might be that the speed of light is a hard upper bound that can't be violated in our universe. In that case, we might still have some time before visitors come calling.

Our best bet is to continue scanning the skies for possible incoming messages (which might or might not be addressed to us).

And hope it's not just spam ...

Re:Fermi paradox

[meeotch]

Don't sweat it - I totally know what you mean... sometimes it just feels like we've been stuck here together that long.

Re:Back to sailing ship days

[DrCode]

software developed in Estonia...

Damn, why is this "cvs update" taking so long? Oh yeah, the project is hosted in Alpha Centauri.

Re:More likely

[Poltras]

Maybe this part of the galaxy isn't that great of a place to be.

I know of a place near M-627. Nice place, really. The grocery is right around the next solar system and there is a Supernova movie starting in 3,000 years, ideal for the kids. For those who want more action, I suggest P35, right accross the Black Hole. Life there is too fast for me though.

Re:More likely

[Mex]

Hello,

My name is Blorgflog Fleeberblox from the Indurian colony of Aran. After current civil war between Xzixi faction and Xlfrixi government, my father, General Zobb escaped with a 10,000 trillion credit box...

Re:More likely

[Deadstick]

Actually, if they are living (or have automated monitors) within a radius of roughly 80 light years, they know we're here. We've been broadcasting our presence via radio waves for about that long now, and our broadcasts are unmistakably "intelligently designed".

In which case, there may be a big sign on the back side of Pluto saying QUARANTINED -- DO NOT ENTER.

rj

Re:More likely

[nbritton]

"I believe the correct term is "Mostly Harmless""

Mostly harmless? Is a chimpanzee with a bible in one hand and a loaded gun in the other mostly harmless?... If I were an alien, I'd stay as far away from earth as possible.

Re:More likely

[bar-agent]

It also you means your grandfather throws his own poo.

Well...he's old. Come on, cut him some slack!