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Aliens haven't contacted us. Scientists found a compelling reason why. (mashable.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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tectonic planet are rare

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[–] [email protected] 77 points 4 months ago (12 children)

Perhaps we're just not as interesting as we think. Maybe aliens don't want to contact us for the same reason I don't want to contact kids playing in the park: I'm simply uninterested in whatever they're doing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (4 children)

It's also likely that an alien species capable of interstellar travel doesn't want anything we have. Our resources aren't anything special, they have no need for slave labor and we don't produce anything of interest to them. It's a long drive. Why burn the gas and waste the time?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Knowledge.

Why are there scientists here on Earth studying the most boring subjects imaginable to anyone but them? Why does every tiny organism have a small, but dedicated group of scientists studying it at some point?

We must know - we will know! is a quote which represents humanity well. A factually wrong quote since we will not know everything but, an objective nonetheless. Why should other species believe different?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It's not so much that we're boring, it's that we're so far away and not trivial to send mass and energy towards.

I think that a sufficiently advanced civilization that could come over for a visit wouldn't want to.

I also think a sufficiently advanced civilization with the curiosity and desire to learn about us could do so via probes and we'd never know they visited us.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Surely if intelligent life is rare, they’re all of interest

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