This is the best reasoning yet I've seen on why we may be looking for the wrong thing entirely. Interestingly, Michael Shermer just posted on UFO/UAP likelihoods, but I found his reasoning much less compelling:
I do agree that organic matter is impractical for cross-galaxy travel, but I do imagine intelligent machines (maybe with our uploaded consciousness) could also traverse the Universe, though not nearly as fast as just a pure energy form. Maybe time does not matter for machines in the way it would for organic beings? If a species became post-human a billion years ago, it's not impossible we could be visited by their machine descendants by now.
Thanks MutterFodder! Re "If a species became post-human a billion years ago, it's not impossible we could be visited by their machine descendants by now." - Yes, and in a billion years they are likely to have developed ways to ensure that we can't detect them. Perhaps, right here and right now, we are being visited by a swarm of nanomachines inhabited by thousands of alien uploads. Or something else of that sort.
This is the best reasoning yet I've seen on why we may be looking for the wrong thing entirely. Interestingly, Michael Shermer just posted on UFO/UAP likelihoods, but I found his reasoning much less compelling:
https://michaelshermer.substack.com/p/a-challenge-to-believers-in-ufos?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxNDEyMDA4NSwicG9zdF9pZCI6NTQ3OTQwNjEsIl8iOiJRNHI4ayIsImlhdCI6MTY1MjYzOTk1NiwiZXhwIjoxNjUyNjQzNTU2LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNTI2MzUyIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.i-ZmETljaB791Sa4MEPCU0KONBdZoCgTiqh9j973esY
I do agree that organic matter is impractical for cross-galaxy travel, but I do imagine intelligent machines (maybe with our uploaded consciousness) could also traverse the Universe, though not nearly as fast as just a pure energy form. Maybe time does not matter for machines in the way it would for organic beings? If a species became post-human a billion years ago, it's not impossible we could be visited by their machine descendants by now.
Thanks MutterFodder! Re "If a species became post-human a billion years ago, it's not impossible we could be visited by their machine descendants by now." - Yes, and in a billion years they are likely to have developed ways to ensure that we can't detect them. Perhaps, right here and right now, we are being visited by a swarm of nanomachines inhabited by thousands of alien uploads. Or something else of that sort.