by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
When Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, he — and everyone else in Europe — pretty much knew the world was round. What Columbus got wrong was the exact shape — he thought the world was pare shaped because he had no idea that there was a whole continent (and Pacific Ocean!) between Europe and Asia.
Anyway, the point is — I think modern scientists down-low believe the universe is full, absolutely fucking FULL of life, much of it intelligent, but they just don’t have the proof to turn to the public to tell them.
I, for one, think the reason for the Great Silence is most intelligent life in the universe is machine in nature and, lulz, it just doesn’t care all that much about biological life, intelligent or otherwise.
Of course, the case could be made that plenty of aliens have whizzed around Earth skies but, for some reason, they just would prefer not to make contact until….what, the Singularity? I do think that the Singularity is important enough that maybe THAT is what will cause us to see all the life in the universe, at last.
But, for the moment, that’s all rather fantastical.
It does make you wonder what will happen when we have absolute soft-contact proof of alien life — of any sort — not on earth. Will anyone care? I have my doubts. I think it will cause a lot of bruhaha at first, but, then, everyone will forget it.
Soft First Contact just isn’t as sexxy as little green men landing on the front law of the White House. So, while a lot of nerds will get excited…in general, the average person will just turn back to their every day problems without a blink of an eye.
