by TITAN » Wed 10 Jan 2007, 00:50:35
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gego', 'W')hen SETI at home first began distributing data sets to people to run on on their home computers I volunteered and ran data for quite some time. I quit after a while when there were no results, and after I started reading more about peak oil. The thought crossed my mind that maybe what was happening here on earth had happened elsewhere in the universe multiple times, and that other civilizations had blown through their own energy reserves giving rise to just a short period of industry, electricity, radio wave emissions etc.
Maybe this is a common happening in the universe. Maybe the universe operates at too low an energy level for current energy received anywhere to be high enough to support anything but stone age existence, except for the little flicker when we ignite the stored energy savings account. The fire from our binge is hardly noticeable except to us.
We certainly are not alone in the universe, but maybe this little point in time at the zenith of our technology is as far as the laws of nature allow.
The level of intelligence and industialization has to figure in there somewhere.
Maybe the oil on other planets is deeper? Never found, or found after other techs are discovered/invented.
Maybe the occurence of fossil fuels is far rarer than the occurence of intelligent life?
Maybe, anytime oil is discovered, the civ takes the easy way out, as we have, and destroys itself?
Far too many variables and not enough examples. Fun to think about though.
I wholeheartedly believe that human DNA has been manipulated by non-natural means in our past. Either our own civilization advanced to the point to do this ourselves, and subsequently destroyed itself, or was killed off by ice age/other natural calamity(don't really believe that one). Or, ETs manipulated and are still doing so... Our entire civilization could very well have been orchestrated by someone else, for reasons that could possibly be understood, but are most likely; well ...Alien...