We have no good reason to believe that aliens have ever contacted Earth. Sure, there are conspiracy theories and some rather strange reports about harm to cattle, but nothing credible. Physicist Enrico Fermi found this odd. His formulation of the puzzle, proposed in the 1950s and now known as "the Fermi Paradox", is still key to the search for extraterrestrial life (SETI) and messaging by sending signals into space (METI).
I have to wonder if motivations remain the same past a certain point in a species’ development. Our expansionism on earth and in our solar system is driven by our need for resources, which is driven by our population growth, which is driven by the basest of biological instincts. If we become largely non-biological and functionally immortal, is the desire to procreate still there? It’s really an extension of what you said, but maybe that “turn inward” is not only a question of feasibility, but also maybe intelligent life just becomes satisfied at some point, a kind of cybernetic nirvana.
I vote we expand anyway, even if it’s done automatically while we’re in some kind of degenerate party simulation. It just seems like a shame not to build things for real.
I have to wonder if motivations remain the same past a certain point in a species’ development. Our expansionism on earth and in our solar system is driven by our need for resources, which is driven by our population growth, which is driven by the basest of biological instincts. If we become largely non-biological and functionally immortal, is the desire to procreate still there? It’s really an extension of what you said, but maybe that “turn inward” is not only a question of feasibility, but also maybe intelligent life just becomes satisfied at some point, a kind of cybernetic nirvana.
I vote we expand anyway, even if it’s done automatically while we’re in some kind of degenerate party simulation. It just seems like a shame not to build things for real.