Fermi's Paradox

On 9/12/12 9:19 PM, Victor Smith wrote:

> But I dont buy into the whole premise that if we havent been contacted
> before then there isnt any other high level intelligence in the
> galaxy. So what if the whole galaxy COULD be settled by a species in
> about 100,000 years, doesnt mean it WAS.

It wouldn't be 100k years; the galaxy is 100k light-years wide.
Something around 100 million years is more reasonable.

> How many species can you name
> that have been in existence for 100,000 years?

I assume you mean technological species like ours... so far, one. :)

> I mean, thats a LONG time, anything could happen in that span,
> including they all went native and forgot how to do work their tech...

No, that's not really possible. Keep in mind that natural selection
works at all levels, including the level of entire planets and star
systems (once those have life). Suppose 99.9999% of a spacefaring
civilization suddenly turns inward and does nothing but play video games
all day. The remaining 0.0001% will simply take over (in the grand
sense of quickly outnumbering the navel-gazers). Those with the urge &
ability to expand experience exponential growth, those without, do not.
So growth is inevitable.

Best,
- Joe