this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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There should be life ahead of us and life behind us.
We can see about 10,000 other solar systems with our naked eyes.
We can see 217,000 with a pair of binoculars
5.3 million with a 3-in telescope
380 million with a 15-in telescope
I can't find the number for a 64 node earthwide radio telescope but If we were going to find life it would probably be with that.
You're right, but that's the 'paradox'. Given our most pessimistic estimates for the chances of life we should have seen at least something that was a huge give away by now. Maybe better telescopes and observation methods will find them, we can get a spectrum from exoplanets. That's incredible; but so far all we see with our telescopes is more lifeless space. That doesn't mean they're not out there, it means our estimates are wrong. It probably means that we just don't understand what factors are required to create life very well and advanced life is incredibly rare.
And yet. We wouldn't see ourselves from Alpha Centari unless there was deliberate directed transmission.