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by FrustratedMonky 859 days ago
I think the assumption is that 'transportation' between stars will be solved by sufficiently advanced aliens/us.

BUT, that this will be one of those very difficult tasks, so it will take many thousands or millions of years.

And so goes towards 'we are early'. So, if we are grabby, and all the other grabby aliens, are all still getting over this transportation hump.
1 comments
cwillu 859 days ago
The universe isn't a rock concert, “we're here too early” is not the only possible reason why there's no band on the stage.
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FrustratedMonky 859 days ago
? Did you read the original post? On grabby aliens?

This whole discussion is about being 'early'.

Not sure you are making a point.

Edit: The original post discusses below light speed transportation. 25% speed of light is used in the estimates.

But guess I agree, if no aliens including us, never-ever with infinite time ever develop transportation that can get up to some fraction of light speed. Then maybe no colonization ever happens, and the grabby guys stay in their system.

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cwillu 859 days ago
“Alas, there's a fifth possibility” was my comment, and I made it because the discussion was excluding the possibility, despite it being explicitly discussed in the paper.

“We can't see any evidence because there is nothing there to see” is a possibility, grabby aliens _requires_ significant-fraction-of-C travel for the argument to hold, and it's entirely possible that it's just impractical-to-the-point-of-impossibility. (That's why I quoted it in another comment).

Yes, it's possible that we're early. It's equally possible that we're “early” because there's no concert: _everybody_ is early in a universe where the band never gets on stage and it turns out that nobody bothers colonizing the universe due to the cost and lack of benefits.

See also: “Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".” https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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FrustratedMonky 859 days ago
No. Your point is not clear at all.

And I can ask for clarification concerning if you read the original post, since your objection/point was already covered.

Did you read it and simply making some additional argument against it, or did you miss it entirely?

"5. Controlled transportation between the stars, sufficient for colonization, is sufficiently impractical that there are no grabby aliens within our light-cone. "

This is covered in the other points of the theory? So should I assume you read it?

"The universe isn't a rock concert, “we're here too early” is not the only possible reason why there's no band on the stage. "

"Don't be snarky. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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