Quote (SDGoD @ Sep 6 2017 02:10pm)
I used to believe in possibility of intelligent Alien encounters in the future but then i came across this theory around von Neumann's self replicating machine.
Read about it If you have interest but i'll give a Tl/Dr:
Self replicating machine when developed would travel to planets and use the materials to make copies of itself thus replicating exponentially.
In just 10 000 years it would spread to whole known universe.
As you know, 10 000 years is blink of an eye on universal scale.
Humanity is only short time away from such a machine (on universal scale).
Therefore we can make 2 assumptions which of 2nd is almost quaranteed to happen and 1st one being very very likely:
1) No Alien race has ever developed to a level where this machine would be possible. Though this theory doesn't make it impossible for Aliens to be real, 10 000 years is just a blink of an eye on universal scale it makes developed Aliens existense extremely unlikely.
2) Humanity only has short time left before we'll go extinct. Otherwise we'd be the first race to develop to this level before destroying ourselves which i feel is very unlikely judging today's Humanity..
I still believe it's possible to find some simple Alien life forms and i'm almost sure there are many races that have developed close to our level but simply gone extinct before reaching technological stage to create von Neumann's self replicating machine.
Our closest galaxy - Andromeda - is 2.5 million light years away. The fastest spacecraft we've ever launched achieved 1/18,000th the speed of light, meaning that any self-replicating robot it carried would take 45 billion years just to reach the next galaxy. That's more than triple the age of the universe.
How we could possibly create a robot that spreads throughout the entire universe in 10 000 years seems a bit unclear.