Where are they? Where is other intelligent life in the universe? This is one of the most fundamental questions of our human race. Are we ...
Where are they? Where is other intelligent life in the universe? This is one of the most fundamental questions of our human race. Are we alone? If not, why we do not know about them? We can continue these theoretical questions, without any concrete answer, yet, to be alone, it seems the less probable case.
We cannot be sure, but most likely, there are other intelligent technical civilizations in the universe. Where we should look for them? What would be the best habitable place for these civilizations?
One obvious answer is that they are where they developed. They are at the place, where biological life (the only natural method to develop life, as we know it) can exist. To find life, these are the most obvious places to look for. However, to find technical civilizations, maybe we should look for somewhere else.
We do not know how a technical civilization evolves. We know only ours, but our civilization probably a typical example. Most likely, other technical civilizations, which came from a biological origin, evolve in a similar way: if they reach a certain level of development, they would consume more resources than the place where the civilization exists can provide. When a civilization reaches this stage, there are three different paths to continue. One is extinction, the other is to cut back, and another is to step forward and leave the place. Our civilization has reached this stage in a cosmologically very short time, and we are at the crossroad. We are planning to step forward, but before we are able to, probably we must cut back, or risk the degradation or face extinction.
Suppose, there are civilizations in the universe, which were able to step forward successfully, and could continue their development on a non-biological evolution. Let's call these civilizations to highly developed intelligent life. Where are they, if they exist at all if the extinction is not the inevitable future for the technological civilizations?
If they could manage their existence, probably, they can be anywhere. They would be capable to continue their existence anywhere in the space. Leaving the origin planet already requires the necessary knowledge, be able to do so. Leaving the birth planet assumes the continuity of the development by gathering new knowledge and turning it to technology making it useful. It can be safely stated, the technical advancement would not slow down but continue its earlier, accelerated path for these civilizations. These kinds of civilizations would know more and more about nature, and would capable to accomplish more and more in technology. These kinds of civilizations would reach individual immortality eventually, and could acquire all the possible knowledge, which is available to them.
Is there any next step for them? How can they find new goals and new perspectives to satisfy their curiosity, which drove them to this level?
Highly developed intelligent life could become a second-level God. Yet, even with all the knowledge, they could not be able to control every event in nature. They can know the facts and the laws of nature, but they could not control it freely. The universe is unpredictable in the long run and on the level of the quantum events. Nature actually emerges from its chaotic and probabilistic fundament. Nature cannot be predictable in any far into the future. We may know all the facts and laws that belong to and guide the universe, yet the result of these events is unpredictable over a certain limit.
This unpredictability could fulfill the inherent curiosity and desire for new knowledge of a highly developed intelligent life or civilization. They could possess all the facts and laws that they wish to know, yet, the actual outcome, nature itself is unforeseeable, and in this way, interesting. The remaining goal for these kinds of civilizations is the observation of the universe, and maybe occasional interaction to make nature even more interesting. The goal of the existence of a highly developed intelligent life is sightseeing, occasional interaction, and creation (as playing), until the end. A supposition, which might not impossible, that human history and life on the Earth already encountered such events.
Where would these highly developed intelligent lives reside to fulfill their goals would? They could live anywhere, and time has no limit for them either after reaching immortality. Only the boredom could be the enemy, the slow flow of the events, the slow spend of the time - unless, they can speed it up. To speed up the time, the relativity theory is the method that they could utilize. They can slow their time, which would result in a relative speed up the outside events. What should they do? They need to change their speed or stay in a strong gravitational field. In both cases, the local time slows down compared to the outside. Changing the speed is good for traveling and for reaching different places. Staying in a strong gravitational field is good to remain in the same place and to observe the neighborhood.
Adequately strong gravitational field can be found around black holes. The vicinity of a black hole is a satisfactory place, where time slows down depending on the orbiting distance. Changing the orbit around a black hole can modify the flow of the local time, and can be set to the adequate rate to see the outside events happening at the desired speed.
Another advantage of the black hole is that it can be used as an energy source satisfying the necessities. Black holes' vicinity can be a hostile environment, especially if matter uncontrollably accreting around it. However, quiet, calm black holes look as optimal places and must be abundantly available. Even they can be moved around by adequate technology and they could become a spaceship. The black hole's extra advantage is, that very difficult to find it by other, less capable intelligence because gravitational lensing is the only way to observe it. A highly developed intelligent life's goal is observation without unwanted intervention. Hiding from a less developed civilization, and securing the privacy is assured around a black hole. If the less-developed civilization reaches the necessary technological limit, it would allow them to find and contact the more advanced civilization.
Where should we search for other technical civilizations? Search for quiet black holes around the vicinity. Because Earth is an interesting place for a long before, if a highly developed intelligent life exists, they surely are here observing us. Good luck to make contact.
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