Yesterday 03:37 AM
https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/01/...ay-silent/
EXCERPTS: So many answers to the Fermi question have been offered that we have a veritable bestiary of solutions, each trying to explain why we have yet to encounter extraterrestrials...
[...] I propose what I call Cellular Cosmic Isolation (CCI)—not a single explanation but a framework that synthesizes multiple constraints into a coherent picture. Think of it as a series of filters, each one narrowing the funnel from chemical abundance to electromagnetic chatter.
The framework rests on four interlocking observations:
1. Prebiotic abundance: Chemistry is generous. Small bodies deliver life’s building blocks widely and consistently. Biospheres may be common.
2. Geological bottlenecks: Complex, communicative life requires rare conditions—specifically, worlds with coexisting continents and oceans, sustained by long-duration plate tectonics (=500 million years). Earth’s particular geological engine may be uncommon.
3. Fleeting windows: Technological civilizations may have extraordinarily brief outward-detectable phases—measured in decades, not millennia—before transitioning to post-biological forms, self-destruction, or simply turning their attention inward.
4. Communication constraints: Physical limits (finite speed of light, signal dispersion, beaming requirements) plus coordination problems suppress even the detection of civilizations that do exist.
The result? A universe where the chemistry of life is ubiquitous, simple biospheres may be common, but detectable technospheres remain vanishingly rare and non-overlapping in spacetime. We’re not alone because life is impossible. We’re alone because the path from ribose to radio telescopes has far more gates than we imagined... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: So many answers to the Fermi question have been offered that we have a veritable bestiary of solutions, each trying to explain why we have yet to encounter extraterrestrials...
[...] I propose what I call Cellular Cosmic Isolation (CCI)—not a single explanation but a framework that synthesizes multiple constraints into a coherent picture. Think of it as a series of filters, each one narrowing the funnel from chemical abundance to electromagnetic chatter.
The framework rests on four interlocking observations:
1. Prebiotic abundance: Chemistry is generous. Small bodies deliver life’s building blocks widely and consistently. Biospheres may be common.
2. Geological bottlenecks: Complex, communicative life requires rare conditions—specifically, worlds with coexisting continents and oceans, sustained by long-duration plate tectonics (=500 million years). Earth’s particular geological engine may be uncommon.
3. Fleeting windows: Technological civilizations may have extraordinarily brief outward-detectable phases—measured in decades, not millennia—before transitioning to post-biological forms, self-destruction, or simply turning their attention inward.
4. Communication constraints: Physical limits (finite speed of light, signal dispersion, beaming requirements) plus coordination problems suppress even the detection of civilizations that do exist.
The result? A universe where the chemistry of life is ubiquitous, simple biospheres may be common, but detectable technospheres remain vanishingly rare and non-overlapping in spacetime. We’re not alone because life is impossible. We’re alone because the path from ribose to radio telescopes has far more gates than we imagined... (MORE - missing details)