LogFAQs > #911005451

The point is that if such technology is possible, some other race that got to our point and further technologically before we learned to use fire (waaay before), would have started exploring the universe. Even if 999,999 races all got to that point and said, meh, screw it..we don't feel like exploring, it just takes 1 race 100 million years ago, that discovered a way to travel faster then light and started expanding throughout the universe to eventually end up almost everywhere (mainly because the expansion would continue to speed up as more and more planets were created as bases etc.

Look, from the information we have, there are countless planets out there that could sustain life, even trying to identify the number is pointless. When dealing with such numbers almost every possibility is going to happen.

One thing we know though, or at least we assume, and that is that all life throughout the universe is restrained by the same laws of physics. Those laws also make it almost impossible for creatures to have existed eons ago, somewhere else, with the ability to advance technologically. Something had to stop them from expanding, and in fact, more then one race doing so.

So yes, one race, or two races etc could in fact decide to hide themselves for some reason, in fact that has been a theory for awhile, that aliens not only exist they have a universal code, which includes not showing themselves to races below a certain point technologically. That is quite possible (though I personally think it's unlikely).

A whole universe full of races that all agree not to show themselves or interfere with creatures who are below a certain technological threshold seems.....crazy. I just don't see it happening.

What is more.......it doesn't explain why this planet was not inhabited by such aliens WAY before humans developed any technology at all.

This leaves me with only one logical reason why advanced races have not spread throughout the entire universe at this point. Traveling even at or near the speed of light is not possible in this universe. Any method to circumvent that (such as using black holes etc) causes such pressure etc to anything passing through, that it is not survivable (not even for data etc).

If all travel within the universe was restricted to less then the speed of light, it would prevent large scale exploration, and limit even far advanced races to a snails pace, even if they could eventually travel from one galaxy to another.

Such travel, even with the technology we currently have...would still be possible, but it would take extreme periods of time. You would need to have a self sustaining ship that was capable of traveling for thousands and thousands of years, while keeping some form of life, or cells or something alive/frozen etc.....to eventually be used at the destination AND even then, your dealing with information (the light you received that was initially 25+ thousand years old (probably much older)...so you would actually arrive at the location you aimed for, at least 2x the amount of light years after what you observed.

In such a case, even if aliens saw our planet was actually viable to sustain life, they could have set out to come here and inhabit it....before humanity even started building things or showing any signs of sentience/advanced thought. Such life/aliens might even be on the way still...and by the time they got here...we could be more advanced then them already.
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"did you steal my f***in signature" Helly