Another declassified study shows the Air Force misled the public in the 1950s about UFOs to conceal the CIA’s spy plane testing.
Another declassified study shows the Air Force misled the public in the 1950s about UFOs to conceal the CIA’s spy plane testing.
Earth’s civilisations are so backwards rn, too. If aliens did manage to get here, they would be far more advanced. It would be like walking to the shop and stopping to talk to an ants nest.
Entire civilization on Earth exist for mere 10000 years or so, of which we are barely noticable on really short range for 200. People just can’t imagine how space is stupidly mindboggingly huge and how much time is needed for anything to happen there.
For example: Probe like Voyager would need more time than our entire civilization existed to reach even the closest star. 8 times more time.
Exactly. Imagine developing space travel and then coming across a species that still largely thinks it can achieve anything by leaving all the great development projects to random individuals – 150 years after the discovery of dialectical and historical materialism. Not exactly a mark of distinction.
Then consider that if aliens manage to get here, the native species believes that they won’t have the technology or resources to find out a little about them before they make themselves visible. If aliens do arrive, they’ll know everything about us before they show their ‘faces’ and they’ll be stopping off at Beijing first.
Also imagine paranoid theories like “dark forest” are being peddled with no reason at all, but much reception.
And by a Chinese writer of all people.
I wouldn’t blame Cixin Liu. People forget that sci-fi is often about the present day and that his use of the dark forest in his novels is not necessarily and endorsement of the theory as a solution to the Fermi paradox.
I also feel like, in the series, the dark forest is a reasonable stand in for capitalism, especially considering the obvious references to colonialism and imperialism. The final book even suggests the universe will cease to be livable unless sacrifices are made in the interests of cooperation.
It can be understood like that, but if that was his intention, it fell flat on face, judging from the reception.
I blame him for popularisation of that theory which was so fringe it didn’t even had a name previously.
Well the concept was in a single science fiction series, it’s just been cultified by people on the internet. Not really much he could do there.
Not sure what you mean. Elaborate, please?
Dark Forest hypothesis is the most paranoid and pessimistic explanation of Fermi’s Paradox. It got huge traction worldwide after it was the topic of otherwise excellent book by Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin.
Right, I knew this stuff. But what did you mean by
Should Chinese authors “peddle” more optimistic baseless theories instead or what?
Yes, i would expect them write more in line of socialist sci-fi tradition instead of typical american doomer settings. Sci-fi genre is utterly oversaturated with darkness already.
It’s mind blowing to consider that humans on Earth might be the first of our kind in the universe. That one day there might be a universe teaming with intelligent life, but it might be long past the age of humans.