X-Message-Number: 30784
From: "Chris Manning" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: the Fermi paradox
Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 22:50:49 +1000

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CryoNet" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 7:00 PM
Subject: CryoNet #30769 - #30774

John K. Clark wrote:

> Yea, and the universe was really created in 4004 BC just like the bible
> says and God put dinosaur bones in the ground and light in the sky that
> looked like it came from galaxies billions of light years away to
> confuse us and because God is a great practical joker. Or better yet,
> the universe was created 30 seconds ago complete with your memories of
> being a child.

In 2003 I wrote a science fiction story based on this very idea:



http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10063/20030923-0000/www.antisf.com/stories/story07.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6pcv9h

I don't know how many other people have thought of this, but one reason why 
we haven't detected other intelligent civilisations is that they are likely 
to be spread out in time as well as in space. Maybe a civilisation like ours 
existed on a planet of the star e Eridani (20 light years away) 5 million 
years ago. They destroyed themselves in a devastating war. Or a civilisation 
like ours will exist in 10 million years' time on a planet of the star Beta 
Virginis (32 light years away). The equivalent of our hominid ancestors are 
living there right now. In either case, we have no way of detecting them.

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