[diegogo]

THE SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTION TO THE FERMI PARADOX

No present observations suggest a technologically advanced extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) has spread through the galaxy. However, under commonplace assumptions about galactic civilization formation and expansion, this absence of observation is highly unlikely. This improbability is the heart of the Fermi Paradox. The Fermi Paradox leads some to conclude that humans have the only advanced civilization in this galaxy, either because civilization formation is very rare or because intelligent civilizations inevitably destroy themselves. In this paper, we argue that this conclusion is premature by introducing the "Sustainability Solution" to the Fermi Paradox, which questions the Paradox's assumption of faster (e.g. exponential) civilization growth. Drawing on insights from the sustainability of human civilization on Earth, we propose that faster-growth may not be sustainable on the galactic scale. If this is the case, then there may exist ETI that have not expanded throughout the galaxy or have done so but collapsed. These possibilities have implications for both searches for ETI and for human civilization management.

http://arxiv.org/abs/0906.0568

Xenopsychology

So far we have very little direct knowledge of alien minds --
but we have some fascinating bases for speculation.

There's a story about a psychologist," science fiction writer Murray Leinster once wrote, "who was studying the intelligence of a chimpanzee. He led the chimp into a room full of toys, went out, closed the door and put his eye to the keyhole to see what the chimp was doing. He found himself gazing into a glittering interested brown eye only inches from his own. The chimp was looking through the keyhole to see what the psychologist was doing."

What the psychologist was doing was proceeding on a false assumption; that the subject would behave as expected! Obviously even a creature that looks vaguely human may, or may not act human. How vastly more difficult must it be for us to understand extraterrestrial beings who may look I like nothing we've ever seen before? Certainly we shall be at least as surprised by alien behavior as we are by earthly minds. But evolution is even more important than physical appearance, especially where alien psychology–xenopsychology–is concerned. All living creatures, whether of this world or another, survivors in an endless chain of "winners," organisms whose behavior and sentience allowed them to succeed and increase their numbers.

http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/Xenopsychology.htm