Re: No Confirmed UFOs Ever So Far - perhaps long lived

a425couple wrote:

> On 6/19/2020 3:19 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> On 6/11/2020 8:23 AM, a425couple wrote:
>>> On 6/10/2020 5:49 AM, Porcospino wrote:
>>>> On 2020-01-05, casagiannoni  optonline.net
>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> Not surprizing, even considering that intelligent
>>>>> apace faring species must
>>>>> abound throughout the universe,  considering the vast
>>>>> interstellar distances.
>>>>> Even at near light speed, which is extreemly unlikely,
>>>>> travel times would be
>>>>> prohibitively long.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Would they really be 'prohibitively' long, however? We
>>>> know that propulsion systems capable of reaching the
>>>> nearest stars within a human lifetime are possible
>>>> (e.g., nuclear pulse as in Project Orion, or laser
>>>> sails). Given the age of the universe there may be
>>>> civilizations who have existed for billions of years:
>>>> even travelling at a fraction of the speed of light
>>>> that's more than enough for a civilization to cross the
>>>> Milky Way several times, albeit at a slow pace and over
>>>> many generations.
>>>>
>>>> Nothing in physics or engineering prevents it, more so
>>>> for a spacefaring civilizations which, you'd assume,
>>>> can command enough energy to do this at little relative
>>>> expense (without any breakthrough in physics). Time and
>>>> propulsion systems are no obstacle, unless you believe
>>>> that a closed-cycle life support system capable of
>>>> working for centuries is impossible (not just from the
>>>> perspective of present human technology but for
>>>> everyone in all circumstances), or that no living being
>>>> can adapt to prolonged life in space (even within
>>>> envisioned settlements such as O'Neil cylinders) and
>>>> thus cannot be away from a planetary surface for more
>>>> than a few years.
>>>>
>>>> Setting aside the 'UFO' question, towards which I'm a
>>>> skeptic, I think it's easier to explain the Fermi
>>>> paradox in terms of not having observed long enough. We
>>>> have not been around (or been paying attention) long
>>>> enough to claim that no intelligent species capable of
>>>> interstellar travel /ever/
>>>> existed.
>>>>
>>> Yes.
>>> From the point of view of most humans, the travel time
>>> to get to other inhabitable planets seems
>>> 'prohibitively' long. Perhaps a very long lived and very
>>> developed alien species is out there, and has for quite
>>> some time been exploring the universe.  Perhaps it last
>>> checked in on our solar system and found interesting
>>> life 10,000 of our years ago.  Perhaps they have a
>>> follow-up inspection planned in 10,000 more years.
>>>
>>> Or, perhaps it was 100,000 years ago, and not again
>>> for another 100,000 years.  There are just so many
>>> interesting and challenging places to check out!
>>>
>>> But our attention span (and perhaps species life span)
>>> seems too short.
>> 
>> Read "We are Legion (We are Bob)" by Dennis Taylor:
>>  https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse/dp/1680680587/
>> 
>> Lynn
>> 
> Interesting book.  Thank you for the suggestion.

Ditto. I snagged the three Bobverse books while I was at
it, just in case.

Actually I'll probably get to these before I get to the
Pursuit of the Pankera based on the comments I've been
reading here.

Nyssa, who always does a lot of reading, but has been
doing even moreso these past few months so she needs a
large stack (virtual or otherwise) in the TBR pile