Science
In reply to the discussion: Bill Nye's Answer to the Fermi Paradox [View all]TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)Where are the alien civilizations? And that follows from the question-- "Are there alien civilizations?"
The Earth is assumed to be about 4.5 billion years old. That means it took about 4.5 billion years for it to see a population that can send a creature to the moon, or a satellite to the end of the solar system.
Our galaxy is presumed to go back to shortly after the Big Bang and may be around 10 billion years old. Knock off a few billion for initial instability and the galaxy is likely far less than twice the age of the Earth. And that doesn't even deal with alternative possible explanations of the galaxy's age.
So, if it takes us 4-5 billion years just to leave the planet, why should we assume other civilizations beat us to it?
This really isn't the realm of science. It is the realm of science fiction and fantasy-- where warp drives, dimensional travel, subspace communications, mental and energy species and other fantastic ideas exist.
I find the thought of us being a galactic cargo cult particularly engaging.