| > It may be possible for there to be an alien civilization so different in capabilities, goals, and mindset that we comprehend them no better than ants comprehend us. But I have a hard time believing that they would be so different from us that we wouldn't even be able to notice their presence if we were looking right at something they'd made or used somehow. that is the second part of my answer, as soon as you can be noticeable you stop being comprehensible by those whose means of communications are less evolved. you either can have a peer to peer communication, which is blocked by our capability (and currently speed of light) or you are unable to comprehend more advanced means of communication. again to my analogy, ant can see human impact on the planet, but it can't comprehend that it is human impact and not some different form of nature landscape. > Maybe there is a galaxy-wide civilization but either they don't see the value in transforming the environment? Or maybe there are fundamental limits to technology of which we're not aware, such that no galaxy-wide civilization would ever be able to transform the environment? if we are speculating here, I think civilizations akin to to ours are extremely common, there is no reason to think that we are special. We are just weak enough to not to be able to connect due to our technological limits. I also think that advanced civs are pretty common, it is just we are unable to understand and detect them so we think the cosmos is empty. |