we could be the oldest civilization in the Galaxy

From: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of William

> 1. They are not interested in us: planetary and stellar-system sized
> minds.
> 2. They don't expand into the galaxy, because they won't need to:
> expansion into "inner space" (cyberspace).
> 3. They don't expand into the galaxy, because there are more
> interesting places to go: other universes.
> 4. They don't expand into the galaxy, because they have evolved value
> systems beyond ours that are non-expansive.

The difficulty with these and other similar explanations is that one
must assume that EVERY technical species heads down the path proposed
WITHOUT EXCEPTION. Moreover, one has to assume that every conceivable
descended subspecies follows this path, every culture of each
subspecies, and indeed each and every INDIVIDUAL of every culture. All
it takes is a small number of conservatives who happen to think becoming
a Jupiter brain would be icky or blasphemous, or who consider this
universe more interesting than others, and some contrarians might take
off down a high-growth path. And all it takes is one group to result in
a galaxy filled with descendants of the stubborn nonconformists.

> A more advanced species might see expansion into the galaxy as just
> a huge magnification of the problems they already have in their
> planetary system--the endless cycle of population increase, and the
> subsequent scramble for resources this makes.

Yes, and there might even be 99 advanced species which might chose to
view it this way. But if one views it differently, their descendants
will make a population which will make the populations of the other 99
pale to insignificance.

Regards,

Mike Combs