There Are Thousands of Alien Empires in The Milky Way
Summary
TLDRThe script explores the possibility of alien civilizations in the Milky Way, questioning why we haven't encountered any despite the galaxy's vastness. It challenges the assumption that advanced technology would make space colonization easy, suggesting instead that space travel remains difficult even for the most technologically advanced civilizations. Drawing parallels with the Polynesian colonization of Oceania, the video proposes that alien civilizations might form 'island empires,' focusing on habitable planets and avoiding the less hospitable ones. It discusses the challenges of maintaining a galactic civilization due to the vast distances between stars and the potential for isolated colonies to develop independently, possibly becoming distinct species. The video ponders whether our isolation is temporary, with the possibility of future encounters as we explore more of the galaxy, and concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the universe and our place within it.
Takeaways
- 🌌 The Milky Way might be teeming with thousands of alien civilizations, each spanning a few to tens of star systems, engaging in various forms of interaction, yet we have not encountered them due to vast distances and complexities of space colonization.
- 🚀 Even with advanced technology, the assumption that colonizing space is easy may be incorrect, as space travel remains a significant challenge for any civilization, similar to how humans explored and colonized Oceania.
- 🏝️ Drawing parallels with Polynesian island colonization, space might be filled with 'islands' of habitable planets, but many are uninhabitable or lack the resources to sustain life.
- 🌍 Mars and Venus, despite being 'earth-like,' present significant challenges for human colonization, suggesting that other seemingly habitable planets might also be inhospitable.
- 🤔 The lack of observable galactic civilizations could be due to economic unfeasibility; the resources required to colonize and terraform planets might not be worth the effort for most star systems.
- 🤖 High-tech civilizations might opt for targeted colonization of the most habitable planets, similar to how Polynesians selected the most resource-rich islands, leading to a string of interconnected empires.
- 🌟 The Milky Way's vastness and the temporary nature of stellar neighborhoods could lead to the rise and fall of civilizations, with planets being recolonized and abandoned over time.
- ⚔️ Interstellar conflict might be economically unviable due to the distances between stars, and colonies might not remain loyal to their home worlds if communication and support are not feasible.
- 🧬 Galactic civilizations that do not exchange genetic information could evolve into distinct species, potentially leading to a lack of common governance or cultural identity.
- 🏰 The idea of vast, interconnected empires might not be feasible, but it opens the possibility for new civilizations to arise, spread, and adapt to their environments.
- 🌟 Our current isolation might be due to Earth's position in a less habitable region of the galaxy, but as we explore further, we may discover more 'good islands' of habitable planets.
- 📰 The script also highlights the importance of unbiased media consumption, recommending Ground News as a tool to compare different viewpoints and gain a more comprehensive understanding of global events.
Q & A
What is the possibility of thousands of alien empires existing in the Milky Way?
-The script suggests that while it's possible for thousands of alien empires to exist in the Milky Way, spanning a few to tens of star systems and engaging in various interactions, there is no concrete evidence of their existence. The lack of observed contact with such civilizations leads to the conclusion that we might be alone in the galaxy.
Why might it take a civilization a million years to take over the whole galaxy, even if they are traveling at 10% the speed of light?
-The vastness of the Milky Way, with its billions of star systems, means that even at a significant fraction of the speed of light, it would take an incredibly long time to traverse and colonize the entire galaxy due to the distances involved.
What is the assumption about technological progression when scientists speculate about alien civilizations?
-Scientists typically assume that technology will progress to a point where colonizing space becomes relatively easy, allowing for the expansion of civilizations across the galaxy.
How does the script use the Polynesian colonization of Oceania as an analogy for potential alien colonization of the galaxy?
-The script compares the scattered islands of Oceania to the star systems in the galaxy. Just as the Polynesians colonized the most habitable and resource-rich islands, alien civilizations might focus on colonizing the most suitable planets, creating interconnected empires across the galaxy.
What are some of the challenges that alien civilizations might face when colonizing new planets?
-Challenges could include the difficulty of terraforming inhospitable planets, dealing with alien microorganisms or ecosystems, maintaining connections over vast distances, and the potential for civilizations to become unsustainable or self-destructive.
Why might it be uneconomical for a civilization to automate the process of colonizing planets across the galaxy?
-The enormous distances between stars, the time it takes for information and resources to travel between them, and the vast investment of resources required to make a planet habitable make it economically unfeasible to automate the colonization process on a galactic scale.
What could be the reason for the absence of interstellar wars, except for genocidal ones, according to the script?
-The script suggests that the vast distances between stars make it difficult to maintain a consistent civilization and to wage war that is not genocidal. It would be uneconomical to go to war over long-standing grievances when the time it takes to communicate and act on those grievances spans decades or more.
How might the isolation of Earth affect our perception of the existence of alien civilizations?
-If Earth is located in a less habitable region of the galaxy, similar to the isolated Pitcairn islands, we might be overlooked or deemed too remote for colonization by other civilizations, leading us to believe we are alone.
What are some existential risks that any civilization, including humans, has to deal with?
-Existential risks include cultural, technological, and environmental threats that could lead to the decline or extinction of a civilization. These risks can be exacerbated for smaller colonies on new planets, which may be less resilient than their homeworlds.
What is the significance of the 'good islands' in the context of galactic colonization?
-In the analogy, 'good islands' represent the most habitable and resource-rich planets in the galaxy. Alien civilizations might choose to focus on these planets for colonization, creating interconnected and sustainable empires, rather than spreading themselves too thin across less hospitable planets.
How does the script address the issue of genetic isolation between different colonies?
-The script suggests that if 'island empires' do not exchange significant amounts of genetic information, the populations on different worlds will eventually evolve in different directions and may become distinct species, making a common rule less likely.
What is the potential impact on humanity if we discover that we are not alone in the universe?
-The discovery of other civilizations could have profound implications for humanity, both positive and negative. It could provide an opportunity for cultural and technological exchange, or it could pose existential threats. The script suggests that it might be a good thing if we have time to prepare ourselves before encountering other civilizations.
Outlines
🌌 The Hypothetical Galactic Civilizations and Human Solitude
This paragraph explores the possibility of numerous alien empires within the Milky Way galaxy, each controlling a few to several star systems. It raises questions about why we haven't encountered any extraterrestrial life despite the potential for civilizations to colonize the galaxy within a million years if they can travel at a significant fraction of the speed of light. The paragraph challenges assumptions about the ease of space colonization and suggests that space travel might be inherently difficult, even for highly advanced civilizations. It uses the historical example of Polynesian navigation and colonization of the islands in Oceania to draw parallels with potential alien expansion in space, highlighting the challenges and the possibility that Earth might be in a currently isolated region of the galaxy.
🚀 The Challenges of Galactic Expansion and the Search for 'Good Islands'
The second paragraph delves into the complexities and challenges of interstellar colonization, using the Polynesian expansion as an analogy. It discusses the vastness of the Milky Way, the abundance of star systems, and the potential for habitable planets. However, it also points out that many of these planets may be inhospitable, drawing comparisons with Mars and Venus. The paragraph suggests that advanced alien civilizations might strategically select the most habitable planets, forming interconnected empires across space. It raises the question of whether Earth is currently isolated, surrounded by less habitable planets, and whether civilizations might naturally fragment or collapse due to various existential risks. It also touches on the economic and logistical impracticality of maintaining large, connected empires across the galaxy due to the vast distances between stars.
🌟 The Impact of Media Bias and the Importance of a Broad Perspective
The final paragraph shifts focus from the cosmos to the challenges of understanding reality on Earth, particularly through the lens of media bias. It discusses the prevalence of news media that present information through a particular perspective, often sensationalizing events to attract attention. The paragraph promotes Ground News, a platform that allows users to compare articles on the same topic from different media sources with opposing viewpoints. This approach is likened to reading a meta-study rather than a single study, providing a more comprehensive understanding of events. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of obtaining a complete picture of world events and making informed decisions based on a broader perspective.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Alien Empires
💡Milky Way
💡Space Colonization
💡Polynesians
💡Oceania
💡Habitable Zone
💡Terraforming
💡Generation Ship
💡Interstellar War
💡Existential Risks
💡Genetic Drift
Highlights
The possibility of thousands of alien empires in the Milky Way, each spanning a few to tens of star systems, raises questions about interstellar communication and conflict.
Despite the Milky Way's age and size, no extraterrestrial civilizations have been observed visiting Earth, suggesting we might be alone.
Scientists often assume technological advancements will make space colonization easy, but this transcript questions that assumption.
The idea that space travel might always be challenging, even for advanced civilizations, is explored.
Drawing parallels between the colonization of Oceania and the potential colonization of space, the Polynesian expansion serves as an analogy for potential alien civilizations.
Many potentially habitable planets may be uninhabitable due to harsh conditions, similar to Mars and Venus.
The motivation for humanity to colonize other planets like Mars is questioned due to the existing habitability of Earth.
The economics of interstellar travel and colonization may not be feasible for most star systems.
Highly advanced civilizations might opt to colonize only the most habitable planets, skipping the less desirable ones.
The concept of 'good islands' in space, where civilizations might thrive, is introduced as a factor in galactic empire building.
Earth might be in a galactic 'backwater,' making it unlikely for alien civilizations to establish colonies here.
The potential for civilizations to expand in regions abundant with good islands, leading to interconnected empires, is discussed.
Challenges faced by expanding civilizations, such as alien microorganisms and ecosystems, are considered.
The possibility of civilizations becoming unsustainable or self-destructive, leading to the abandonment of colonies, is explored.
The vast distances between stars may make maintaining a consistent civilization and effective communication difficult.
The potential for populations on different planets to evolve into distinct species due to limited genetic exchange is highlighted.
The notion that large, connected empires may not be feasible in a galaxy with sparse habitable planets is discussed.
The idea that new civilizations may constantly emerge, spread, and die out, with planets being recolonized and abandoned, is presented.
The potential for humanity to eventually drift closer to other worlds full of diverse civilizations is considered.
The importance of having a complete picture of current events and avoiding media bias is emphasized.
Ground News is presented as a tool for navigating biased media landscapes by comparing different articles on the same topic.
The kurzgesagt lab is introduced as a place for conducting stellar experiments and creating scientifically accurate content.
A special poster based on the channel's content is available for purchase, with proceeds funding the creation of more videos.
Transcripts
What if there are thousands of alien empires in the Milky Way,
each spanning a few to maybe tens of star systems, chatting, trading,
sometimes shooting or ignoring each other politely? And if so, why is nobody visiting us?
While the Milky Way is ancient and gigantic, even travelling at 10% the speed of light,
any civilization could take over the whole galaxy within a million years.
But we haven’t seen anybody yet. So it seems we are alone in the Milky Way.
But this idea is built on a lot of assumptions. Usually when scientists
speculate where all the alien civilizations are, they assume technology will progress
to a point where colonising all of space becomes kind of easy.
But what if we are thinking about this the wrong way? What if the
universe is full of life, but no matter how technologically advanced you are,
space is never easy? What if aliens slowly crawl through space,
expanding like humans did over the ocean? Let's look at the only data point we have: ourselves.
The Available Real Estate in the Galaxy
Oceania is a region with tens of thousands of islands scattered across millions of square
kilometers, separated by an unforgiving, deadly sea. Kind of like a galaxy.
Some 5000 years ago the first people set out to colonise Oceania. Especially the
Polynesians achieved mind blowing feats. Without any modern technology they set
out into the vast nothingness hoping to find a new island to claim or like die far from home.
But most of the pacific islands are merely a few wet rocks or corrals, maybe some palm trees
and if you are lucky, birds making a pit stop. Others with more vegetation are often hostile,
lacking the resources to really sustain a lot of people and remain uninhabited even today.
And then there are the good islands.
The Polyneisians colonised them, spreading their culture and society to dozens of remote
islands of all sizes. Some united in kingdoms spanning many islands, others were independent,
many home to competing and belligerent tribes. And although thousands of kilometers apart, even the
most remote islands were connected with at least some trade and exchange. A microcosm of humanity.
But it didn’t always work out. The extremely isolated Pitcairn islands
were settled for hundreds of years and relied on trade with each other and bigger islands
hundreds of kilometers away. And then the local population vanished. We don’t
know why – maybe because the islanders did the human thing and ravaged the natural resources
until they became unsustainable. Maybe the decline on distant bigger islands severed
important connections. We only know their culture declined and they left or died out.
What if space is an ocean to us? A hostile place that’s hard to conquer?
Would alien civilizations spread like the Polynesians?
The Universe is kind of a horrible place
The Milky Way has around 200 billion star systems and it seems that almost all of them have planets.
Estimates vary, but there may be some 300 million to tens of billions of rocky, earth-like planets,
in the habitable zone around a star, where water can be liquid. Amazing! Except that most of them
are terrible. Hells of lava, dead frozen worlds, bare rocks sterile from radiation,
blanked by toxic atmospheres. It's easy to forget, but Venus and Mars are “earth-like”, too.
Mars is the next human frontier and fairly exciting – but Mars dust is poison and deadly
radiation and low gravity will make you sick. Mars is the worst. Except Venus is even worse,
crushing you to death, burning and dissolving you in acid.
If humanity was really motivated and had the resources and energy, both could be terraformed
within maybe a thousand years – we showed how in other videos. But the thing is, we already have
a planet that's pretty great, so currently humanity's motivation is not very strong.
Now let's think about this in terms of galactic expansion.
If the milky way is like a vast ocean full of islands, most are planets like Mars and Venus.,
Barren rocks or corals, where nothing grows and the elements kill you.
Imagine boarding a generation ship to travel for 100 years or more, only to arrive at a new star
and then you get a… Mars. Or worse, a Venus. What a let down. Terraforming them is such
an intense investment in terms of resources to make it worth spending the time to travel to the
stars for bad planets. Maybe the simple reason we don’t see galaxy spanning civilizations is
that the economics just don’t add up for almost all of the star systems out there.
But wait, you might say: It's actually easy! A high tech race with unlimited resources
could automate this process, sending thinking machines that report back every few thousand
years with new planets ready for fresh settlers, or automated ships with embryos. But if it were
that easy someone would have done it by now. So either we are really alone – or it's not easy.
Thinking about alien civilizations you need to make loads of assumptions – and
for this video we are assuming that space is hard,
even for high tech civilizations that have broken free from the limitations we have today.
Now things are getting exciting.
So what if alien civilizations actually ignore the bad islands and just pick
the very best? Stringing together island empires like the Polynesians?
Thousands of Galactic Empires
Every star moves in its own orbit through the galaxy and most stellar neighbourhoods
are only temporary. At any given time, in some regions there will be more good islands
than in others. While simply because of bad luck, other regions will be pretty isolated.
Earth might currently be in one of these backwaters, surrounded by really bad
islands for dozens of light years in all directions. We may be Pitcairn island,
so isolated that nobody knows we are here, or cares to establish a colony so remote.
But elsewhere in the Milky Way good islands may be more common! There it would be relatively
easy for a high tech civilization to jump from one good star system to the next, creating connected
empires. Strings of worlds, with all the adventure and challenges of expansion even to really good
planets. Do they need to animate dead worlds with oceans? How do they cope with alien microorganisms
or strange ecosystems? Do they need to burn it all down and create a mirror of their home world,
or do they adapt? How many centuries do they need to make a planet truly their home?
Empires expanding in regions full of good islands would probably meet each other. Maybe they trade,
maybe they fight. Maybe they have coffee and chat about the meaning of it all.
And just like some of the Polynesian islands, it is likely that many of these planets would
be abandoned or for the empires to break apart for a number of reasons:
First of all, most great neighbourhoods would dissolve over time and connected
islands would become remote. Then it just may be the nature of civilization to become
unsustainable or self destructive – humanity is extremely young and we’ve already flirted
with extinction. There are numerous existential risks, cultural, technological and environmental
that any civilization has to deal with. And smaller colonies on new planets would likely
be less resilient than their homeworlds and in bigger danger of dying out. Whenever this
happens this would leave a good island free again for others to rediscover and colonise.
Also space is just a different ballpark. The enormous distances between stars make
it hard to maintain a consistent civilization – just think about how many cultures we have
on Earth alone. Imagine if sending a message between continents took decades to arrive.
Would colonies care what the home world wants from them, if it can neither help nor really
enforce its will on them? This also would make interstellar war, except the genocidal kind,
completely uneconomic. Would you go to war with someone because their great grandfather killed
yours? At these distances, it's not like anyone could easily sneak up on each other anyway.
And on a much more fundamental level, if island empires don’t exchange relevant
amounts of genetic information – if there are no hook ups between worlds –, sooner
or later these populations will develop in different directions and eventually become
different species. Making it less likely that they’ll want to be under common rule.
So the idea of enormously big, connected empires may just not be feasible if the
galaxy is an ocean where good islands are few and far between. But this also means that new
civilizations may pop up constantly, spread and partially or completely die out, even if just
by splitting into different factions. Islands may be recolonized and abandoned over and over.
What would this mean for us?
We might think we are alone only because we are on an isolated island right now.
But there could be thousands of worlds full of diverse civilizations elsewhere, that we would
eventually drift closer to - does this make the milky way more scary or less scary? Is it
a good thing that we'd have time to get our act together before we face anyone else? Or is it a
great tragedy that we might not have the chance to meet our neighbours beyond for a long, long time?
Well we don’t know, but it is something for you to ponder tonight when you look up at the sky again.
Hopefully humanity is still at the beginning and we’re learning a tiny bit more about the
universe every day – one day, we might spot a good island. And if we are lucky, many more close by.
One huge problem we face as a species is that we can’t agree on what's going on. There are loads
of news media but most of them tend to frame reality through their point of view. And worse
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