I have been an enthusiastic member of the SETI@Home project from its beginning. Recently, however, I have begun to wonder: What is the point? If we should encounter signals from another cosmic civilization, it would be one, in all likelihood, very much like our own, at least in technological terms. The reason I believe this is because I believe that the evolutionary transcendence of our biological existence is very close at hand. Indeed, it is very hard to seriously contemplate any civilization significantly more advanced than our own AND that has not transcended into a post-biological reality.

I am talking about the Technological Singularity, of course. The more I think about it, the more I become convinced of its inevitability. To me, it now seems obvious that this is our destiny. In this frame of mind the only possible response to the idea of civilizations that are significantly beyond our own level of development, and which have NOT transcended into a post-biological existence is: "What's WRONG with them?"


Technological civilizations beyond our own level of development would not only, (in all likelihood), be beyond our capacity to comprehend, but the cost-to-benefit ratio, (for them), in establishing some form of exchange with us would be, well, ludicrous.

Such civilizations would have transcended into a post-biological reality. In which case the very nature of such an exalted state of existence means that they have no further need for radio transmissions of any kind, or any interest in sharing their thoughts with barbaric, unrealized entities such as ourselves.

So that's out. What is left is technological civilizations at or near our own level of development, which would, by definition, be constrained by the same physical limitations as we are, (i.e. The Speed of Light), making any meaningful exchange academic at best. Their discovery would only be of real value to our philosophical interests in as far as a redefinition of our concept of self and our relationship to the Universe is concerned. Theists, I suspect, will really have a hard time grappling with that, but they are, in my view, a rather insignificant and unimpressive branch of philosophy.

So, if transcendence into a post-biological evolutionary reality is the ultimate destiny of all Advanced Technological Civilizations (ATCs), and if, we ourselves are on the very threshold of such a transcendence, and given that the rate of accelerated evolution that is the LAW of such advancement, as we ourselves have experienced through our history, brings such civilizations to the threshold of transcendence in a relatively short while, then: The epoch of radio transmissions is a short-lived one.

The Universe is possibly teeming with transcended civilizations and their consequently expanding, paper-thin shells of radio broadcasts. Some of these expanding, paper-thin shells of radio broadcasts may or may not have had time to reach us, as no doubt there are others that have indeed reached us and passed beyond into the post-biological silence of the technological-phase of their evolution.

The likelihood that any SETI@Home-like effort would happen to capture the passing of such an expanding shell of radio broadcasts is about the same as that of the Earth crossing the path of an un-diffused Gamma-Ray Burst. Not impossible, to be sure, but such a discovery would tell us where they were, and perhaps even who they were, but Cosmic distances and the Speed of Light limitations mean that such a signal came from a civilization that has since passed-on to its own post-biological destiny. We would be listening to the echoes of its barbaric past. Any reply we send, (whenever it would reach them), would be ignored by its exalted present reality, no more than the buzzing of a passing insect, or perhaps, not even that.

To be fair, I should mention that there is another possibility for the SETI failure: That the reason we cannot find any signs of ATCs is because there are none; that we are alone, or that we are the first to achieve such technological prowess.


Perhaps non-incidence of ATCs is more in keeping with the rule of Occam's Razor, if only for the perfect simplicity of the argument. But I don't know, it just doesn't get my juices flowing, and in my experience that's a good reason, if not to dismiss a theory, at least to give it a lower placing in my totem pole. I trust my instincts.

I find the idea of post-biological evolution specially appealing, it seems to jive more with the macro-view of the Universe in as far as our expanding knowledge of it goes. (i.e. "Juices Flowing") A post-biological ATC would have the means of transmitting information without the wasteful bleeding of electrons (energy) that our current methods entail. In other words, no detectable transmissions, nothing for the SETI number-crunchers to chew on, negative results, The SETI Failure.

What a delicious irony! The best evidence we have that other, more advanced civilizations exist is precisely the lack of evidence!


So, why am I bleeding two 3GHz processors on a 24-hour basis to crunch through mountains of recorded radio noise from outer-space?

Because it would amuse me to no end to know for certain: Are we alone or not? Period!

Even if such a hit on the figurative "Fermi-Scale" originates from an ATC that is unremarkably much like we are, it would still hold profound implications for the human race. It would be the catalyst that would ignite a whole new, (albeit short-lived), era of intellectual enlightenment. (See? I can be "dangerously optimistic" too!)

I have no expectations of establishing a meaningful relationship with some betentacled beauty from Regulus-9 who can tweak my hypothalamic pleasure nodes with focused waves of neural pulse-packets. (Though I am not opposed to explore the possibilities, if such an opportunity presented itself.) What, however, I do look forward to is the stimulating debates that will ensue, and the realignment of our definitions, in almost every aspect of our perceptions, that will necessarily take place. My own ego hungers to know, how close to the truth my own theories and speculations have come. And I will personally enjoy, (Oh, my, yes!), the outrageous, existential discombobulations and consequently hallucinated justifications that the Theist branches will perform in a futile attempt to staunch the geometrically expanding exodus of their members into the secular population of humanity.

...and of course, being able to answer nonchalantly, "Oh, I'm looking for intelligent life in the Universe." every time someone asks me what my computer is doing, is always a righteous goosing of my hypothalamic pleasure nodes!



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[ The Technological Singularity by Vernor Vinge ]
[ The Law of Accelerating Returns by Ray Kurzweil ]
[ SETI, the Fermi Paradox and The Singularity by John G. Faughnan ]
[ What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen? by Vernor Vinge ]

Solar-Twin Discovered

When I was just a child, and still at times today, I was always overcome with the most exquisite sense of awe at news of this kind. Then, just like now, I would take a few moments to contemplate the new reality.

The object of my contemplation is HIP 56948, (What a cool name!), a star heretofore unknown in the constellation of Draco. A place whose history is no doubt as extensive and rich as our own, in spite of our ignorance of its existence; a condition that is now at last cured by the news of its curious and uncanny kinship to our own mother star, Sol.

In this case, I sent my thoughts through space and time to our brother star where I orbited, languidly bathing in its warmth at more or less the same distance that our own Earth transits from our sun, and admired it.

What wondrous planets orbit here, now for a thousand-million years more than our own Earth has accompanied our sun?

Has one of them harbored creatures, who at night look up at the stars and wonder if someone else exist, like themselves?

...and perhaps, just maybe, some scientist have announced the discovery of a twin star, with the same chemical and physical properties as their own home-star, only a thousand-million years younger, and that it can be seen there, but a mere 200 light-years away, in the constellation of...

...and whether some young being, having read the news, took a few moments to send his thoughts through space and time to this brother star, where he orbited, languidly bathing in its warmth at more or less at the same distance that his own planet transits from his star, and admired it.

...and perhaps, just maybe, he wondered...

“What wondrous planets orbit here, a thousand-million years younger than our own...?”

You know, if a particle enters off-center into a spinning-asymmetrically-generated-hyper-jointed-singularity-pair it may (or may not) emerge at the other side of the spinning-asymmetrically-generated-hyper-jointed-singularity-pair at a point in time prior to the one in which it entered the spinning-asymmetrically-generated-hyper-jointed-singularity-pair, not to mention that it's anti-particle may (or may not) have been left behind at any number of trillions of light-years in distance, then, if you adjust the spin of the anti-particle, the particle would have to reverse it's spin by a proportion exactly inverse of the given and corresponding anti-particle adjustment and simultaneously, but before you actually adjusted the spin. Sooooo....You could, in essence, not only violate the laws of causality but also bypass the speed-of-light-limit and generally mess-up entire eons of weekends for galactic civilizations just about everywhere in existence. (Or not.) Of course, this all gets blown to hell if you suddenly decide to scratch your quantum ego instead of adjusting the particle spin...

Timing is everything, man!