Daniel65 wrote:
wrote on 3/05/2021 7:53 am:
Universe is obviusly infinite, so even if a very low probability,
there is likely an infinite number of planets with intelligent
species, who should have radio transmissions, YET we apparently
never receive anything. WHY ? !

Because the "infinite number of planets with intelligent species" are so
bloody far away!!
.....

If there are no other intelligent species in the observable universe
it only ups the probability we are living in a simulation.
Years back the odds of being in a simulation were put around 1 in 3
because it would be just so damn useful to someone to study a toy
universe.

Recnetly I see the odds have been upped by some cosmologists to
99 in 100 because it's argued creating 1000s of simulated universes
would just be so damn interesting for humans in millions of years so
they could study their origins.

Leaving out extraneous things like contact with ET's in the 21st century
would obviously be a big saving in simulation code.
If the programmers needed to check how 21st century humanity would
react from alient contact they could just hack something in --
make ET's mysteriously appear from time to time in random places
in random configurations with no obvious rhyme or reason.
They would probably figure that given the known psychology of the time
it would be ignored, just like all the WOW signals.

Perhsonally I'm starting to lean to the other classic philosophy
trope of us all being brains in bottles. Relativity almost imposes
a static Bloch universe and the only way something can change is
if it takes place outside the physical universe in some "super space".
That kind of thing explains all kinds of weird sh*t people keep seeing
or have been thinking about for centuries (e.g. transmigration of souls).

It would also explain a lot of USENET. Bceause obviously in a matrix many
of the charavcters can be filled out by simple AI robots that behanve
almost randomly and don't need to learn to adapt to new conditions,
just run through a list of hard-wired reactions.

--
[Why Dont I see Any Smoke Signals?]

One day Wise Woman went to Chief and told him there seemed to
be other people in the Forest.
She told him many days away she found strange marks in the ground and
also strange footprints.
They were similar to human footprints but had only one huge toe that
seemed to be scarred with many deep wounds. It seemed the Others must be
much taller than any of the People. But they seemed to command fire
so they must be human.
"Ridiculous", said Chief.
It was known for many generations the Spirits created 5 men and 5
women long ago. Those people had children and after many generations there
were almost 100 People. There were no Others.
Chief decided to climb to the top of the tallest tree in the
Forest and call to these "other humans".
Alone of all the animals humans had the power of Words.
For many days Chief climbed the tallest tree and called and called
to the Others.
There was no answer.
Chief told Wise Woman about his test.
If there were Others, why did they never answer?
There could be many reasons, said Wise Woman.
Maybe the Others were asleep.
Maybe they were stalking game and had to be quiet.
Or maybe their custom was not to talk to anyone they didn't know by name.
"Rubbish", said Chief.
He thought about another test. Alone of all animals in the Forest
people had mastery of Fire.
Chief went to a clearing and lit a big fire.
He threw wet leaves and branches on the fire until a huge pall of
dark smoke hung over the clearing.
He kept the fire smoking for many days and then climbed the tallest
tree in the Forest and looked in every direction.
There was no answering smoke anywhere.
The other people did not exist!
He had proved it 2 ways now!!