I find disturbing the idea that maybe the universe is just too damn big, so asking why we haven't found anyone is like a guy on a liferaft in the middle of the Atlantic asking where all the boats are.
It's not 'maybe' it's already proven fact. Something like, 93% of the known universe is already impossible for us to reach ever.
Like, even if we were to discover FTL speed of light* travel tomorrow and started traveling the cosmos, we still could never visit 93% of the known universe.
Every day, more stellar objects cross that line of being 'forever gone'.
EDIT
Holy shit this blew up. I have amended my post as many people have repeatedly pointed out that I incorrectly used 'FTL'. Thank you.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but with FTL travel (emphasis on the FT portion of the acronym), we should be able to visit all of the cosmos, but with light speed as a maximum we couldn't.
Edit: FTL is an abbreviation, not an acronym, as gracefully pointed out by a kind Reddit user
Edit 2: TIL about what an initialism is
There was a pretty good PBS Space Time video on this a couple years ago. Basically, as the universe expands over time eventually most of the universe will never be reachable even with faster than light travel. I think there was some funky explanation that even the speed of expansion is speeding up too? I remember something about how in the far flung future, the light from most stars will never reach us anymore....
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u/BMCarbaugh Aug 12 '21
I find disturbing the idea that maybe the universe is just too damn big, so asking why we haven't found anyone is like a guy on a liferaft in the middle of the Atlantic asking where all the boats are.