I thought this was interesting -
From Slashdot Daily Newsletter of April 16, 2010 -
Hugh Pickens writes "Geoffrey Miller has an interesting hypothesis in Seed Magazine that explains Fermi's Paradox aEU" why 40 years of intensive searching for extraterrestrial intelligence have yielded nothing: no radio signals, no credible spacecraft sightings, no close encounters of any kind. All the aliens are busy playing computer games. The aliens 'forget to send radio signals or colonize space because they're too busy with runaway consumerism and virtual-reality narcissism,' writes Miller. He says the fundamental problem is that an evolved mind must pay attention to indirect cues of biological fitness, rather than tracking fitness itself, and that although evolution favors brains that tend to maximize fitness (as measured by numbers of great-grandkids), no brain has capacity enough to do so under every possible circumstance. 'The result is that we don't seek reproductive success directly; we seek tasty foods that have tended to promote survival, and luscious mates who have tended to produce bright, healthy babies. The modern result? Fast food and pornography,' writes Miller. 'Once they turn inwards to chase their shiny pennies of pleasure, they lose the cosmic plot.' Miller adds that most bright alien species probably go extinct gradually, allocating more time and resources to their pleasures, and less to their children, until they eventually die out." Who here doesn't think a TNG-style Holodeck would lead to the downfall of our civilization?
Liz Woolley
I completely agree with you.
Unless we get the kids OFF THE COMPUTER, and into the sunshine, and teach them how to interact with each other and stop the bullying, and stop the competition, (every time I get on a bus, there are 50 teens with cell phones), Some have 2, they are talking into one, and texting with the other.
And since these are teens who don't work, WHO IS PAYING FOR THESE TOYS? The parents. I mean, give me a break. Parents, get a clue!!
I know thats where the gaming virtual world is headed to.Like you said the startreck holodecks. Or people will be plugged in... or should i say jacked in like in the movie The Matrix.
"It's all in your mind...Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life.If you continue to believe as you have always believed,you will continue to act as you have always acted.If you continue to act as you have always acted,you will continue to get what you have always gotten.If you want different results in your life or your work,all you have to do is change your mind." Anonymous...
Want to know what I found out recently while I was on the internet? They are developing a kind of software that when you go into a virtual reality world, you don't have to use a mouse, YOUR BRAIN WILL CONTROL IT ALL.
Now THAT scares the heck out of me. How on earth will this be accomplished? Will they be sticking something on one's head? We really don't need this to happen.
ElizabethJ, the ability to control computer software, such as virtual reality worlds, through thought basically depends on using technology that can read and interpret your brain waves. A couple of threads on this forum that discuss this in more detail are Brain control headset for gamers and Second Life Gets Brain Controls.
Regarding this thread's original topic, we don't really know why we have not found any radio waves or other such signals from other worlds. For example, it could be that we are receiving many of them but are looking in the wrong places, they are too weak for our machines to register them, we are unable to distinguish them from background noise, etc. Nonetheless, I agree that the proposed hypothesis is reasonable. However, since we know of only one advanced civilization, i.e., our own, we have to be very careful when assuming that any sort of our own behaviour traits would be applicable to other species' advanced civilizations.
- John O.
[em]Carpe Diem![/em] (Seize the Day!)
I think a truly advanced civilization (ours is not advanced) will come to the realization of how to avoid getting addicting to things such as games. Part of the advancement is an increased awareness of self in how to avoid things that would negatively affect one's life.
The only other way they would arrive at this scenario is if they thought that continuous gaming serves a purpose and is an end goal. They will arrive at the same logical conclusion that we can: to maximize happiness does not require an addiction. They would realize that there is more fulfillment out of learning and having several experiences in real life rather than doing repetitive or futile tasks in a game world. If this is not the case, I do not think they would fit the criteria of being "advanced."