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Astronomers Detect a Possible Signature of Life on a Distant Planet

(www.nytimes.com)
168 points julienchastang | 1 comments | 16 Apr 25 23:20 UTC | HN request time: 0.202s | source
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John7878781 ◴[16 Apr 25 23:32 UTC] No.43711464[source]▶
This is unsettling. If we are not the only intelligent beings in the universe, it adds credence to the idea of a "great filter."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

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kulahan ◴[16 Apr 25 23:40 UTC] No.43711514[source]▶
My greatest desire is to know why we don’t see any galaxy-sized colonies. A great filter would certainly be a fascinating response!
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awb ◴[17 Apr 25 03:05 UTC] No.43712701[source]▶
One thing that I haven’t seen discussed much in terms of galactic colonization is genetic drift, speciation and communication.

I believe there are simulations theorizing that galaxies can be thoroughly explored in 10M - 100M years.

But how would those species even communicate their discoveries across a 100k LY galaxy? The delay would render data inaccurate by the time it arrives. It seems challenging to persist in a common purpose for millions of years across vast distances.

And would they even be the same species on those timescales and distances? On Earth isolation leads to some unique physical and cultural evolutions.

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1. alganet ◴[17 Apr 25 03:12 UTC] No.43712741[source]▶
Maybe life already colonized everything within possible reach, made most of it inhospitable, and the remaining three survivor galactic empires sent an ark and some supplies to a small planet called Earth.