Technological singularity & alien life

[canopuss]

Is it correct to assume, compared to earthlings there are no technologically more advanced civilisation in Milkyway galaxy? If there is why have we not visited by at least non-biological aliens ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

http://www.futuretimeline.net/

It is likely robots will travel to other stars within 200 years.

Rest of the galaxy was there for 9 billion extra years, there was all the time in the galaxy for life to form and to become technologically advanced, but we haven’t had any alien/non-biological-alien visits nor there is any evidence in the milkyway.

Is this means there may be only 1 advanced civilisation per galaxy on average ?

[korjik]

Steven Pinker stated in 2008:[26]

"(...) There is not the slightest reason to believe in a coming singularity. The fact that you can visualize a future in your imagination is not evidence that it is likely or even possible. Look at domed cities, jet-pack commuting, underwater cities, mile-high buildings, and nuclear-powered automobiles — all staples of futuristic fantasies when I was a child that have never arrived. Sheer processing power is not a pixie dust that magically solves all your problems. (...)"

It really isnt a good idea to assume anything about life anywhere, including here on Earth. It does seem to be a bit of a puzzle as to why there has been no alien contact, but then again, he really dont have any idea on what it would actually take to reach another star. Current tech probably couldnt do it in less time than centuries without bankrupting the entire planet. Trying to predict what techs will be developed isnt likely to be right either, so we dont really know when and interstellar probe would be launched, or when it would arrive.

So, we dont really know what factors would be involved with interstellar travel. As a result, I am just as likely to be correct in saying that there is an interstellar government that makes people leave the undeveloped civilizations alone as that we are the only civilization there is.

[Jens]

One thing to note: the Wikipedia article on the technological singularity uses the adjective "hypothetical."

[Swift]

Is it correct to assume, compared to earthlings there are no technologically more advanced civilisation in Milkyway galaxy? If there is why have we not visited by at least non-biological aliens ?

As korjik says, we don't know, and all ideas are speculation. Many science fiction writers (David Brin in particular) have speculated as to various reasons for this.

[mutleyeng]

I think the best way to look at it is to imagine various barriers in the development of a technological civilisation.
The first is for life to get started, the second is for it to become complex, the 3rd is for it to develop technology (where we are) - but there are other barriers ahead, like how long do such civilisations last, and further what are the physical limits for what technology can allow you to do.
There is a school of thought that suggests it would be very bad news for us to discover other life within our solar system, because that would make it far more likely that the major barriers could still be ahead of us to be able to reach out to the stars.

[dgavin]

Part of it may simply lie in the fact that even if an alien civilation was more advanced, say to the point of even having warp drives of some form. They would likely not venture too far out of the sphere that thier warp drives, and communications could effectively handle. So unless there were within a few hundred light years of earth, it's hightly unlikely they would send a robotic probe to earth, and the further away they are, the more unlikely it is that they would even plan a exploration visit even if they knew our solar system might have a viable planet.

They would tend to focus on the viable planetary systems that are closer to thier sphere of influence.

So even if they had warp drive and communications capable of 10 times light speed, thier effective sphere of influence could be placed at about 20ly from thier home system, it would still take thier signals 2 years to travel that distance back to home, and 4 years to travel to the other side of thier sphere. Most civilitation won't want to even be out of communication reach for that long. Six months signal travel (with what ever speed you give those signals even if impossible) for colony worlds would be a good rule of thumb to follow, in estimating thier sphere of infuence in lightyears from thier home system.

[Shaula]

They would tend to focus on the viable planetary systems that are closer to thier sphere of influence.

Or if you follow the speculative line take by some authors of fiction they would tend to be limited in where they go by bandwidth thanks to being virtualised - and they would huddle near their stars until their carefully optimised legal and accountancy artificial minds eat them or use them as currency.

[publiusr]

It might be that proof of alien life would be found not by an astronomer or SETI resercher, but by someone looking for dinosaur bones or coal. A fossil lander uncovered by erosion would be interesting.