On the likelihood of communicating with ET, interstellar travel etc.

Hi all,

I have a "pet theory" which I believe explains our inability (thus far)
to communicate with ET. This theory had being floating about in my mind
for a while but was precipitated by a post from Cyber Trekker. I call it
the "sandbox and higher dimensional boundaries" theory. Which
admittedly, is a bit of a mouthful. It is really a set of axioms based
on a philosophy that draws from rudimentary principles of self
preservation, self similarity (fractals) as well as being influenced by
Gaia Theory. It is ineffect, a "Grand" or "Unified" Gaia theory. It
seems so evident to me that I am rather suprised that no one else (as
far as I am aware) has proposed it.

I believe that the "super intelligence" (God if you will) that created
the universe/multiverses, has built in a few "safety checks" (or "sanity
checks" if you like) to prevent complete and utter chaos and destruction
from taking hold of the entire system. If this were allowed to happen,
there is the very real risk (as I hope to explain later) of bringing an
end to all intelligent sentient beings in the cosmos - given enough time.

Essentially, the "safety checks" can be summarized by the following
generalized rules/axioms:

1). "The further (and/or faster) one needs to travel (or communicate),
the more energy is require" (Ceteris Paribus - including a given
mindset). This is both axiomatic and intuitive - everybody understands this.

2). The application of knowledge constitutes a "self regulating" process
within the cosmos.

This may not be intuitive and may need further clarification:

With increased knowledge comes the possibility of discovering new and
more powerful forms/sources of energy. Therein lies the rub. Because
this is a two edged sword by which a civilization can either achieve
great things, OR annihilate itself (depending on it's disposition - more
on this later). Implicit in this simple statement lies the truth that
there are certain implied boundaries that prevent a civilization from
"expanding it's reach" by more than it is capable of being "responsible
for" (hence the "sandbox" part of the theory). Broadly, these two axioms
have two further implications:

A) A sentient being can "screw up" its locality (specifically, the
rock/substrate it evolved on) up to the point where it extinguishes it's
kind (life as it knows it). Thereafter, another species evolves from the
"destruction" left behind by the prior beings. (It maybe completely
unaware of the existence of prior beings inhabiting the substrate it
calls "home", and may be simple minded enough to think that it is the
only sentient being to have evolved on that substrate - or the entire
universe for that matter). There is no guarantee that the "new" beings
will fare any better than the previous beings. This cycle can go on ad
infinitum if the beings do not evolve beyond the dimensions of space and
time (or until one of the binary terminal states described below is
reached).

B). The universe is not so forgiving however (space is a very harsh
environment). A sentient being is likely to be "hard-wired" by default
to the substrate/environment from which it evolved. Early forays into
space will require great innovation by the species, and is likely to be
expensive both in terms of resources and life. This in itself is the
first "natural" barrier that tempers any initial urges the beings may
have to run riot through the universe, raping and pillaging their way
across the galaxy (more of this later).

Interstellar or intergalactic communication (and travel travel) involves
amounts of energy that Type I civilizations cannot even begin to fathom.
(BTW earth, is considered to be type I civilization).

If a civilization is not sufficiently "enlightened" to KNOW that it is
MORE than its manifestation (i.e. sum of it's parts) in the physical
domain (i.e. the 4 dimensional space - time continuum), then it is also
incapable of knowing the inter-connectedness that joins it to its fellow
beings (in our case all humanity), and possibly other sentient beings.

In this air of ignorance, predatory thoughts arise and manifest
themselves in acts of aggressions such as wars, "me first" attitudes
etc., etc...

Now here comes the "self limiting safety check" I talked about earlier:
In a sentient beings' effort to "CONQUER space" (there's a lot of
information in that phrase), a civilization that is not enlightened will
come to a point where only a shift in mass consciousness will prevent it
from self destruction due to discoveries its civilization would have
made in propulsion and energy generation as a matter of course in their
drive to venture out into space, as well as a result of discoveries made
in other fields (BTW, any such discoveries in propulsion and energy
sources made by such an unenlightened sentient civilization will still
be WAY below that required for inter-stellar travel). Simply put, the
sandbox (a construct in the space time domain) still ensures that the
beings cannot escape to wreak havoc elsewhere.

Essentially therefore, any civilization that does not evolve (outside
the space-time continuum), faces one of the following mutually exclusive
binary terminal states.

1). Get wiped out eventually by a cosmic event (this is the default
scenario)

2). "Self destruct" by putting technology before evolving outside the
space time constraint

It is manifestly evident what the fate of the sentient beings that have
evolved on the third rock from the star Sol is ... Not pretty, but ...
unfortunately, it is an extrapolation of the facts as we have them now
.......

Incidentally, with regards to contacting ET, Drake's equation tells us
that there are potentially hundreds of thousands of intelligent
civilizations in our galaxy alone. It is a credible figure. However, I
believe that ET is also "playing the same game" (called life) and thus
bound by the same "safety checks" I described earlier. Each
manifestation of intelligent life has a "sandbox" big enough to allow it
to play in, but separated by sufficiently vast distances (when observed
through the "default" space/time continuum) without wreaking havoc on
another "family" of intelligent beings. However, the games that sentient
beings decide to play in their "sandbox" is entirely up to them. For
example, they are free to fight and kill their brothers and sisters (as
indeed homo sapiens as a group, has spent most of its time on earth
doing), and the beings can even opt to completely annihilate themselves
(most likely by mis-directed use of the knowledge and technology they
have accumulated up to that point in time). No loss to the overall
system though, no tears shed (another species - possibly sentient, if
given enough time, will simply evolve in the sandbox of the beings that
annihilated themselves), and the show goes on without missing a beat ....

So in all likelihood, other sentient beings (ETs) are also "playing" in
their own sand box. The rules of the games they consciously or
unconsciously decide to play in their sand box may be completely
different/ or exactly the same as the rules to our game of life.
Regarding communicating with each other, this is likely to be possible
between the higher evolved beings (who are most likely to do this
without the space/time continuum constraints). Humankind has started
tinkering in this area in fields as diverse as quantum mechanics and
hypnosis.

So, to summarize the above, and in conclusion:

1). Infantile or "unevolved" sentient beings such as ourselves will be
unable to communicate with each other (specifically, within each other's
life span - although they may hear echo's of each other's Ghost
civilizations). If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. An
infantile civilizations' natural inclination upon hearing a message from
another sentient civilization will most likely be to want to know what
kind of resources are available at the transmitting end (under the
pretext of conducting trade and the exchange of knowledge). Human
history, (if it is anything to go by), gives us enough evidence as to
what happens when one resource hungry/agressive civilization meets
another resource rich/slightly docile civilization. The simple check of
ensuring unfathomable (in the space/time continuum) distances separate
the two civilizations "sandboxes" ensures that any messages received are
from "Ghost civilizations" that no longer exist or have evolved beyond
the level of consciousness they were in when the message was sent, by
the time the message is received (if they are still around, they may
have evolved to such a degree that they may even have capabilities to
"reach out in time" to cancel any infantile - and potentially
provocative messages sent out when they were in their infantile or
"unevolved" state). Alternatively, they may simply choose to make
themselves "undetectable" by less evolved beings.

2). "Evolved" (or high dimensional) sentient beings are likely to
communicate with each other through means that we may not even be
capable of imagining (remember, some of these civilizations may be more
than billions of years ahead of us in terms of evolution). Consequently,
such beings may have little interest in communicating with us. When was
the last time you had a long, meaningful discussion with an amoeba?,
What did you communicate to each other ?, What did you share in common
(in terms of awareness etc.)?.

Does this mean that we should stop listening for ET?

The answer should be a resounding NO!!!. It is only a matter of time
before we hear from a "Ghost civilization". The only catches a

i) We don't know the technology they will have used (depends on the
realized stochastic path of all potential game(s) - In other words, the
particular sequence of games they have been playing in their sandbox up
to the point when the message was sent).

ii) We don't know how long we will have to wait before we get a signal
(If we were the first to develop sentience/conciousness, it's going to
be a pretty long wait !!)

However, the reward is this: Receiving a decipherable message will be
proof that we are not alone, and are not the only sentient beings within
some locality (galaxy/universe/multiverse). That one message would make
all the aeons of waiting worth it, and may even trigger the change in
mass consciousness needed for mankind to evolve outside the traditional
space-time dimensional strait jacket that conventional science operates
within.

I would like to hear your views/feedback on this hypothesis.


"Takeshi Yamamoto"