>It means that civilizations should exist that are millions of years more technologically advanced than us; and should be leaving telltale signatures across the sky that we'd likely have detected by now.
Or they've reached their technological plateau millions of years ago. Like we did 50 years ago.
>And the absence of those signs would be relatively strong evidence that life, while common, isn't long-lived.
We know for a fact that life have existed on Earth for >2 billion years.
> Or they've reached their technological plateau millions of years ago. Like we did 50 years ago.
What a bizarre thing to say, considering this very discovery leans on decades of science and engineering over the past 50 years!
None of those discoveries help with space travel whatsoever. Our most advanced space propulsion still works on the principle of throwing a lump of matter in the opposite direction. The rocket equation remains undefeated. Special relativity remains undefeated. This is the plateau that I'm talking about. And we have zero idea if anything can be done about it.
Many trolls hiding in these comments... either that or they just dont understand what the scientific method is.