Where Are The Aliens?
In The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design, Dawkins argues that a theory of the origin of life necessarily has to appear miraculous. The creation of life has to be sufficiently rare to explain why there is so little intelligent life out in the galaxy sending out radio signals. (We still have not found any besides ourselves.) I suggest some other explanations for the paucity of life.
~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)
- If you walk through a forest, it is quite silent and you don’t see much life unless you start digging. The creatures have the wit to stay out of sight/earshot of predators. Entire civilisations have the wit to lie low.
- There is a sort of cosmic FCC (Federal Communications Commission) that forbids broadcasting. Only laser-like beams pointing directly at the recipient would be permitted for communication.
- Intelligent life is so good at battle, that it wipes itself out within a few centuries of developing technology.
- Properly compressed and encrypted radio messages should sound indistinguishable from background hiss. Mature civilisations would use such technology. Our technology is nowhere near that sophisticated.