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Dala  ·  2332 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Alan Stern and Dala have Convergent Thoughts about Aliens

I agree with you that it's unlikely that we will find anything else here in this solar system, or if we do it will be very simple. This was meant more as a thought about other star systems, but I don't suppose I clarified that very well.

1) There really isn't any, I think the issue with Fermi is that there's an assumption that intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy would be easily detectable to us but I am not so sure that is the case. How far out into the galaxy do our own signals travel before they dissipate or become no longer recognizable as being "not natural?" How far away are we visible to anyone who is looking? And when are we visible there? Did the advanced life-forms look at our star with their version of SETI and just see dinosaurs? Or maybe they looked right after Toba, the supervolcano, erupted and saw only a world covered in ash and cloud?

2) The life-support system for an aquatic species would be a nightmare on its own. Then there's the question of how would you build and launch a spaceship from a world where you live in liquid under a mile of ice? If you can launch from the surface that's easier but could potentially damage your world's ice crust if it isn't thick enough. But how do you get all that machinery through the ice? Maybe there's a natural vent you can go through, but if not, do you risk cutting through?

3) Would the moons of such a gas giant, if close enough to the planet, benefit enough from the magnetic field to be used instead of building a space station?