[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] A late comment on a talk last October

[Allan Sherman]

This reminds me of the songwriter Peter Mulvey's description of a
conversation he had with his friend, Vlad, the astrophysicist that begins
with the question 'Are there intelligent civilizations out there other than
ours, and if so why haven't they contacted us?'
You can hear this at https://www.petermulvey.com/media/  (The actual
conversation begins at about 2:45).

Same question, and same answer...... but well done.

-Al


On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 1:37 PM Carl Lazarus <carllazarus at comcast.net>
wrote:

> I just played the recording of Howard Winkler’s talk “Is There Intelligent
> Life Anywhere in the Universe” and enjoyed it very much.  (I had a conflict
> the day of the talk.)  It surprised me, however, that nobody brought up a
> probability factor of how long intelligent technological civilizations
> last.  We’ve only had the technology to transmit radio waves for 120 years
> or so, and even a little shorter for the ability to transmit powerful
> signals.  How long will our technologically-capable civilization last.  One
> hopes a long time, but perhaps we will end it before long by climate change
> or by nuclear war.
>
>
>
> If such civilizations arise randomly after billions of years of evolution,
> and they wipe themselves out within a few hundred years, there might not be
> any others around now.
>
>
>
> Sorry for this depressing thought, but I’m not the first one to mention it.
>
>
>
> Carl Lazarus
>
> carllazarus at comcast.net
>
> 617-964-7241 (H)
>
>
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