Re:Why do we assume extraterrestrials might want to visit us?
by mcbits on Thursday January 21, 2021 @10:25AM
(#25859784)
Even as we expand our presence and every random ant has a better and better chance of encountering some kind of evidence of human existence, it still has to know how to evaluate what it's seeing.
An ant finds a peanut. Being a smart ant, it recognizes that something is strange about this peanut. It appears to be roasted. After thinking for a while, it develops a theory to explain how lightning can ignite fires capable of roasting peanuts. Simple and obvious explanation in hand, no further inquiry or speculation about the existence of "advanced peanut roasting technology" is needed.
I mean, why would supposedly advanced creatures intentionally reduce the nutritional quality of the peanut by roasting it, anyway? Yes, definitely lightning.
In a world where humans somehow kept themselves from risking their own existence through limitless growth (which I'm assuming wiser intelligences would navigate better), the vast majority of ants colonies would never have any human take notice of them through their whole existence.