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Originally Posted by photon
Of course there's two other considerations to that...
First is it's entirely possible that the laws of physics ultimately prevent any species from leaving their solar system. The amount of energy required to reach even the closest stars are more than the entire planet produces or even could produce with its natural resources, and that's not even asking how we'd store that energy, or considering that it would take longer to get there than our species has been sentient. I'm an optimist and I think we'll reach the stars eventually, but it's by no means a given at this point.
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And then you have to consider that in a universe mostly full of nothing, that an advanced race would happen to be close enough that even if we figured out the energy problem, we could communicate with them in a reasonable time frame.
Even more of a problem, considering the age of the universe, you would have to be lucky to find an advanced race that exists at the time. Considering that humans have only existed for a blink of an eye, and that when all is said and done, our species will probably only exist for a short moment in astronomical terms, is it not reasonable to think that the same would be true for alien civiliztion?
We'd have to be extremely lucky to find an alien race close enough and alive at the same time, nevermind just the logistical problems of traveling there (or having them travel here).
Maybe not impossible, but pretty much hopeless for all intents and purposes.