Sorry I missed so much of the discussion on the last thread about intelligent life. I had a couple of thoughts. Based on the physics we know.

1) I believe that becoming a space-fairing civilization would require tremendous changes in our cultures. For example, a stable space-fairing civilization could sustain itself only if it could accurately control mentally challenged people. Unlike Earth, a single nutball could take out the entire ship quite easily. Can’t be stable early on with those kind of odds. I simply do not see how violent species like the Klingons could have starships when they would have been killing each other on the ships early on. This sort of stability is so far from where we are now that it is almost unimagineable.

So, to be a stable space-fairing civilizaiton requires a peaceful species that has removed the possibilities that single individuals could impact the ships. Otherwise it is not going to be stable.

2) We think about aliens coming to conquer because that is how we are - we are still expanding on Earth . But I think that for the sorts of civilizations that create stable space-faring civilizations, expansion is not as important. Stability is. So it is likely there is no drive for further territorial expansion. And it also requires too much energy.

3) But what is important and critical for any highly intelligent species is information and data from diverse sources, allowing it to deal more effectively with a complex universe. That is the level of disrupton that would keep a stable civilizaton from falling into decline. What they will crave is the information flow that comes with interacting with other intelligent species that have derived their own unique solutions to complex problems. Information, not expansion.

4) They can accomplish this by sending autonomous devices to nearby stars that look promising. These devices look for the signs of intelligent life and report back.

So, why have we not heard from them? Well, it is likely that all intelligent species have to overcome a similar barrier we are seeing - overcoming population growth and the pollution our waste products produce. So why contact a species that has not shown the ability to overcome this barrier? Why contact a species that will fail?

BUt if we overcome this hurdle, which will require the creation of a diverse, global culture that is very different than we have today, we might be worth contacting. The exchangeof information could have tremendously productive impacts on both civilizations.

Hope so.