What do you think the liklihood of this is?

[too-open-minded]

Saw a meme and wanted to ask you guys on SF.

 

"The universe is probably littered with the one planet-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there is no good reason to go into space. Some discovered, studies, and remembered by the ones who made the so called irrational decision"

 

So yeah, I think this could be likely to go on in the universe?

 

What ya'll think?

[imatfaal]

There is more than a little anthropocentrism about it - what makes us think that aliens will have even remotely similar trains of thought? That little quibble aside there is a nice nugget of validity about it - without innovation, taking the risk of being wrong, thinking outside rigid confines it would be a very boring and perhaps forever isolated life. There is also a nod to the self-proclaimed free-thinkers that dominate internet memes.

 

More importantly - we will not notice the remains of the many more numerous civilizations in which boring and stolid good husbandry was ignored for more exciting, flightly and risky strategies and which were wiped out in their first mini-ice age/heat wave/etc

[too-open-minded]

Well I think we would be more likely to have common trains of thought than different? That is because the only format for life I can base trains of though off of, is ours. However I would think they might follow a very similar evolutionary history?

 

I like the free-thinker and expanded consciousness type memes, however I don't think their all on point.

 

Why would we not notice any hypothetical civilizations that never made it off their planet? ice-ages and Heat waves aren't the only things that could have down away with them before they made it to fare in space.

[cladking]

I was just thinking about a similar question yesterday.

 

It's a safe bet that the lack of time travellers is indicative of the impossibility of time travel (at least backward). But why aren't there aliens everywhere? Perhaps there used to be aliens but at a given point the powers that be forbid interference in primitive cultures. Perhaps it's much simpler and faster than light travel is impossible.

 

Of course it should be mentioned that we are familiar with only a single planet teeming with life and there's no intelligent life on it. Maybe there's no intelligent life in the cosmos either. Maybe intelligence and life are as oxymoronic as intelligence and military. Perhaps it's this that is the impossibility. Maybe we'll build true intelligence and discover why there are no alien stumble bums or death stars.

[SomethingToPonder]

Interesting, I would like to believe that there is long lost civilizations out there somewhere that one day we may discover. But who knows.
But as far as aliens thinking the same we do, I dont think it would be the case. I doubt they would be humanoid, and if they were, they would still think differently in my opinion. Do any animals think the same way we do? Even the intelligent ones? I dont think so. However we are at a much more advanced stage of evolution. Maybe every race or species would start considering space travel if they got to a certain stage of evolution. It only seems logical, once they develop self consciousness and a decent memory and a certain level of intelligence they look at the stars for instance and imagine travelling.

[too-open-minded]

Well I think if any species is collectively conscious enough to want to sustain their species's life as much as their individual life, or if they see viable harvest-able resources in space. Space travel seems more important. We would have to get to a planet within a certain increment of time to recognize a dead civilization similar to ours, but I think it would be possible. If we can get a good program like the Kepler running, and can throw a figure out for earth like planets per said amount of area. We would have a better idea of just how life friendly the universe really is.