The Fermi paradox - infographic

[nova_robotics]

I've thought about this a lot.

There's the classic argument that space is vast, but time is vast too. The universe is 13.7 billion years old. If a civilization only lasts 500 years before it blows itself up with nuclear war or nanobots, there's a very low probability that two civilizations will exist simultaneously. If you fast forward a view of the universe you might only see civilizations blinking into and then out of existence but never co-existing. This is a highly likely explanation.

I have a different theory. Look at the trajectory of our culture, particularly over the last 20 years. There is a dramatic decrease in value of things that are real. Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, whatever. Fake has become equal to real, and in a lot of cases surpassed it. For example, younger generations will spend all day watching OTHER PEOPLE PLAY VIDEO GAMES in lieu of watching real sporting events. It makes sense. If you remove the bias of real inherently having more value than fake, things that are fake or synthetic will always out compete and be far more interesting and entertaining. It's already happening and we can see it happening in young people. So my theory is that as a civilization progresses, it just sinks into its own false reality and stops exploring.

Edit: As a perfect example, this forum. It's all us old farts building stuff. We have a bias that if something is real and tangible it has value, and fake is worthless. Why are there very few young people here making things? They're building stuff in Minecraft. That bias is gone.