From: Nick Bostrom (nick@nickbostrom.com)
Date: Tue Jun 11 2002 - 18:06:33 MDT
Hal wrote:
>The Fermi paradox seems to be generally expressed in galactic terms.
>Why hasn't our galaxy been taken over by aliens? With all the stars in
>the galaxy, surely one or more besides our own should hold intelligent
>life, which can then sweep through the galaxy in a million years or less.
>Nick's paper looks at the local supercluster and implicitly assumes
>that it is unoccupied.
I agree with Hal that if intelligent life spreads through a galaxy, it is
very likely to continue to spread throughout the accessible region of the
universe. The reason that my paper focuses on the local supercluster is
that it suffices to look at that to make the point that I'm trying to make.
Also, since some people think that more distant regions are considerably
more likely to have been colonized, it is better for me to show that my
argument doesn't rely on those people being wrong.
Nick Bostrom
Department of Philosophy, Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520 | Phone: (203) 500-0021 | Fax: (203) 432-7950
Homepage: http://www.nickbostrom.com
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