One of the most widespread commonplace in discussing about the possible existence of other technological civilizations is that they should be very more advanced than ours. At a cosmic scale, indeed, mankind was born just yesterday. So, it is very likely that almost any other civilization we could ever detect will be much older than ours. But does it necessarily imply that it should be also much more advanced? Since we are just at the dawn of our technological age, but nonetheless in only four centuries have achieved such a great progress, a positive answer may seem to be obvious. But, in fact, this implies the assumption that both scientific and technological progress are endless processes, which is not obvious at all. In this paper this point will be discussed, with the help of two diagrams analyzing the only example of scientific and technological progress we know, that is the one of our own terrestrial society.
How advanced is ET?
MUSSO, PAOLO
2003-01-01
Abstract
One of the most widespread commonplace in discussing about the possible existence of other technological civilizations is that they should be very more advanced than ours. At a cosmic scale, indeed, mankind was born just yesterday. So, it is very likely that almost any other civilization we could ever detect will be much older than ours. But does it necessarily imply that it should be also much more advanced? Since we are just at the dawn of our technological age, but nonetheless in only four centuries have achieved such a great progress, a positive answer may seem to be obvious. But, in fact, this implies the assumption that both scientific and technological progress are endless processes, which is not obvious at all. In this paper this point will be discussed, with the help of two diagrams analyzing the only example of scientific and technological progress we know, that is the one of our own terrestrial society.
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