"The Great Silence":

[Cato]

I regard the silence as a teleological issue and nothing more (see my sig for a hint).

[Cato]

I was influenced by this book, which has nothing to do with any teleological reasoning:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mil...ght_Easy_Steps

Savage takes a Malthusian view of the exponential growth of human population and life in general, and also recommends the exponential growth of blue-green algae for sustenance. He states that it is humanity's manifest destiny to colonize every star in the galaxy. He draws heavily on the Fermi paradox (briefly stated as, "If there is intelligent life in space, why haven't we found it yet?") to support his position that it is humanity's burden alone to ignite the universe with the "spark of Life." In The Millennial Project, he calls for the creation of an international foundation to realize these goals. Originally known as the First Millennial Foundation (founded by Savage in 1987), the organization changed its name to the Living Universe Foundation.

The author [Savage] puts forth a complex plan of galactic colonization, under the belief that mankind along is the culture-bearer and culture-creator in the cosmos, which agrees with my belief in the Imago Dei:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imago_dei

A parochial belief to scientific pundits, but their lack of ability to properly explain the "great silence" is noteworthy IMO. There's scientific shuffling and theories as to why no broadcast signals from ET have been detected. I don't claim any scientific credentials, nor do I want to. My own beliefs are grounded in religion and philosophy rather than in the hard sciences.

[Tabiti]

Because we search for beings like us. Or don't know what to search at all...

[Octothorpe]

Seriously? Hardly anyone takes the Many Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics seriously anymore (if anyone really did at all). Of all the possible solutions for resolving the problems within QM, this one is, IMO, the least believable.

Some rather high-powered thinkers seem to think that the Many Worlds interpretation are valid: Michio Kaku, Bell, Wheeler, and the 'branes crew (Membrane theory is presently considered the best path to a unified field theory, and it essentially requires 'non-Copenhagen' quantum physics). From my readings in the journals and on-line extracts, it seems more popular now (among scientists and laymen alike) then ever before. Therefore, your statement puzzles me. Can you enlighten me as to your opinion?

[Psychonaut]

Michio Kaku

I think I have heard him bring it up on his radio show.

Wheeler

I don't remember Wheeler coming out in support of this, but the only text of his I ever used in college was Spacetime Physics which wouldn't've had anything to do with that.

it seems more popular now (among scientists and laymen alike) then ever before. Therefore, your statement puzzles me. Can you enlighten me as to your opinion?

I guess I should do a bit more reading. I'm certainly familiar with all of the old guys, but I'm not as well read as I could be on contemporary attempts at reconciling QM. Brian Greene's book was the last I read on popular physics. I certainly don't recall him coming out in favor of the Many Worlds interpretation in that.

[Barreldriver]

I have to say the Many Worlds Interpretation appeals best to me for various reasons, #1 it's relatively easy to get a grasp on, quite a simple concept, and #2 it goes along with the mythologies I'm interested in, and #3 it has been at the forefront of most of the things I have seen in regards to the universe, quite a few programs and such sporting the theory around, so I have a personal bias when I support this theory.

[Liffrea]

Roger Penrose has suggested Many Worlds theory may be the solution to Schrodinger Evolution i.e. that the detection of a single part of a wave-packet still leads to the existence of other parts of the wave-packet, you’ll have to forgive me if I fluff some of this up, wave collapse (if I remember right) is the collapse of all probability to a single probability once it reacts with the world around it? However Penrose has also written that we would still need other theories to explain the packets we don’t consciously perceive actually existing!

Quantum mechanics, you have to be an alcoholic LSD user to get your head around it, my old man thinks it’s a load of “bollocks”! Personally I find it fascinating, if I wasn’t retarded and could do higher mathematics I would have enjoyed studying it in even more depth, as it is I’ll have to stick to “pop science”.

[Psychonaut]

if I wasn’t retarded and could do higher mathematics I would have enjoyed studying it in even more depth, as it is I’ll have to stick to “pop science”.

That's the same for me as well. I started off as a physics major in college and made it through Special Relativity. But when I got to General Relativity and Tensor Calculus, I found that I was way out of my depth.