Out of the Bubble, the Fermi Paradox

Out of the Bubble.
==============

According to "The Planetary Hypothesis: A Resolution of the
Fermi Paradox" (Journal of the British Interplanetary Society,
vol 54 May/June 2001) we might live inside a "bubble".
How could we really prove that the stars and galaxies, we see
on the night sky, aren't simulated on a great shell that
surrounds the entire solar system? A shell that simulates not only
photons, but also such exotica as cosmis rays and neutrinos etc. ???

And beyond the shell lies the REAL universe. A universe that
we know absolutely nothing of ! According to this "planetary hypothesis".
The "controllers" might have created our little "zoo"
for the sanity of the human mind? Or they might be
fastforwarding humanity inside some exclusion zone,
to see how it turns out? Perhaps the universe
we know is some elaborate illusion that protects us from
a more fearful reality?

In acclaimed SF author Stephen Baxters book "Phase Space"
it all comes back to Fermi paradox: If the universe is filled
with life, why aren't the aliens here? Why don't we see them?
His heroes poke at the bubble and see if the walls
come crumbling down. If so they would rejoice. Finally, humans
would see the truth. The "controllers" from the outside finally
forced to reveal themselves!!!

There might be many kinds of bubbles though.
There could be a bubble of consciousness, where everything except
consciousness itself is fake. For all we know, even our bodies
might be simulated, so that the boundary of reality is drawn
around our very consciousness. Imagine "the controllers" turning
that illusion off: Our own body slowly becoming transparent,
breaking into pixels and then disappearing....

So, what should humanity do from now on in this age of
the pax americana - where all the old illogical ethnic and religious
differences are finally dissolved - except poke at the boundaries
of the mind and of space ?
Surely, old Gaia might be displeased with us and
do a "biosphere reboot" on Earth - killing off humans and starting
all over from scratch with bacteria and alike once again.
Or Earth might be hit by a killer asteroid. But as long as
this doesn't happens - then we actually have a shot
at the stars.
Us and these huge, shadowy qubit AIs, far beyond any
kind of democratic control, that will populate the
Earth in the near future.
Finally, We should be able to go out and meet the consciousness
of the far future, the conflux. Some born out of the random
flexings of (black hole) singularities, others with human origins.
And some, perhaps, with origins in the "controller" society.

As always, Stephen Baxter is good!

FUT: rec.arts.sf.science

-Simon

Simon Laub
silanian.tripod.com