Quote:
Originally Posted by DownInFlames
Yes, it's probably a small percentage of advanced civilizations who have that luxury, if any. Humans have a natural inclination to explore but we have no idea if that's "normal". Some aliens might just chill at home.
|
Exactly. That’s something I was trying to get at earlier. We can say based on the relatively few things we DO know about the stars and planets beyond ours that life existing elsewhere is possible. It might even be probable, but let’s just say it’s possible because I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.
Beyond that, there’s little you can even reasonably estimate the probability of, and a lot you can’t:
- Does life actually form on planets hospital to life?
- If life forms, what form does it take?
- If life forms, does it evolve similar to life on Earth, different than life on Earth, or not at all?
- Is evolution required to reach “intelligence”? Could an advanced species simply originate that way?
- Does “intelligence” reflect the human-based definition, or is our definition different?
- Does the advancement of technology automatically follow intelligence? If so, what technology is required/desires for that particular life form on that particular planet?
- What are the life form’s motivations (individual or societal if societies even exist) and is technological advancement required or even related?
There are a whole lot of complete unknowns. And, if you assume all of them to favour one answer, you still get to the end where you’re left with having to assume the motivations of this highly specific life form you’ve dreamt up, and of course, some people default into “they want something similar to what we want.”
I find it fascinating anyway. It’s kind of fun that a take like “we could be the most techy species anywhere” is actually less human-centric and restricted to human-based logic and reasoning than something like “aliens are observing us and are much more advanced than we could ever be.” One supposes that the great potential of alien life could go far beyond our values and motivations, that it could defy our expectations entirely (is being “advanced” technologically even an accomplishment? or is it something only humans value or require? would our version of “advanced” or “technology” even apply to other species at all?). The other is basically “they’re just like humans but a lot better and further ahead,” which is entirely unimaginative and unlikely.