The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations

[admin]

If there are other intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way, they are probably much closer than we are to the galactic center, and fairly young.

The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations : Read more

 

[Chem721]

Quoting from the article :

"Even if the galaxy reached its civilizational peak more than 5 billion years ago, most of the civilizations that were around then have likely self-annihilated, the researchers found ."

This certainly suggests that humans are an existential threat to life on earth, and current activities offer a solid foundation for this assessment. Based on these theories, and our current activities, we have a high probability of self annihilation. (Many of us have been in the closet on this conclusion, we just did not want to admit it for fear of being ostracized as extreme pessimists.)

Considering the ongoing anthropogenic mass extinction of life on earth, and the future impact our vastly overcrowded biosphere will ultimately suffer, it would seem that self annihilation is our ultimate destiny. But that only means we are not an outlier statistically from the rest of civilizations that arose and disappeared over the life of the galaxy.

We would not want to be an outlier on such a grand scale, would we?!

 

[Jack Handy]

I agree some Milky Way civilizations have self-annihilated. I also believe some have been accidentally annihilated by their own hand and natural forces. I also firmly believe not all civilizations have met this fate. There are those galactic civilizations that continue to flourish.

When applying some simple Darwinian principles to the supposition of flourishing and self annihilating galactic civilizations I consider the following:

1. More individuals are produced each generation than can survive.
2. Phenotypic variation exists among individuals and the variation is heritable.
3. Those individuals with heritable traits better suited to the environment will survive.
4. When reproductive isolation occurs new species will form.

This is the nature of life. It's life doing what life does. It is why there are super-strains of drug resistant bacteria. Living, mutating, reproducing, dying, living, mutating, reproducing, dying, living, etc.... This is also what intelligence life does. Test, fail, succeed. Test, fail, succeed. Intelligent life will continue to test the limitation of what is possible.

We are the first civilization that is technologically capable of self-annihilation. We are also the progenitor civilization, unless you believe in Tolkien's Hobbits, Orcs and Middle Earth we are the first civilization of earth. Until recently we have never had the ability to intentionally destroy the foundation of our civilization.

Civilizations that solve Maslow's Hierarchy for their constituency can flourish.

1. Physiological
2. Safety
3. Love
4. Esteem
5. Self-actualization

I know at times it seems impossible but if our civilization can achieve enlightenment and come to terms with the prehistoric (savage) brain that got us from trees to temples to Tesla we can transcend. Civilizations are in a race against internal and external forces. I also believe we are nearing the point transcendence.

This all assumes we are not in a simulation.