I think you don't give us enough credit :-) We have developed enough technology to leave the planet and walk around on our Moon. We are, perhaps within a decade, going to have that capability again but with a much higher level of base technology. While it would be unlikely for Dinosaurian satellites to have remained in orbit for millions of years, anything they left on the moon would still be there.
"There might be billions of worlds full of dinosaur analogs running around happily eating and growling till their star burns out...and that might be all that you can expect out of life in the general case when it happens."
This is the essence of the Fermi paradox I believe. (And I've ordered a copy of the book mentioned below, it looks intriguing) So what hypothesis could support billions of iterations of 'life' evolving into the multicellular form we see today and in our past, and so few evolving technology?
I totally agree it is a somewhat useless question to ponder but I can't help it.
> So what hypothesis could support billions of iterations of 'life' evolving into the multicellular form we see today and in our past, and so few evolving technology?
Probably just a function of environmental input and enough generations optimizing along directions that matter more for species propagation than a large, energy burning cognitive organ. Keep in mind, it appears that Human level intelligence seems to have (so far) only evolved maybe a handful of time maximum in planetary history...and AFAWK only along a fairly specific mammalian family line that happened to live on part of the planet with fairly specific thermal/environmental and energy availability properties.
On a planet slightly warmer than the Earth, the dominant species might be selected to have heat management organs we're not even aware of; or a planet with more landmass vs. ocean, the ability to handle dry climates; or a planet with two moons and higher gravity an efficient metabolism and ambulatory system...some kind of reptilian slug perhaps?
Are savannas necessary to culture space faringness? Or could a planet with no moons, shotgunned with equally dispersed Guam sized islands provide the necessary conditions?
It's useless, but an incredibly fun thought experiment.
I quite like Geoffrey Miller's theory that the human brain is primarily the result of sexual selection rather than natural selection - the hominid equivalent of the peacock's tail.
i find that theory to be unlikely to be true, because its usually not the smart guys but the buff guy that gets the prettiest girls (at least, that is the cultural belief).
"There might be billions of worlds full of dinosaur analogs running around happily eating and growling till their star burns out...and that might be all that you can expect out of life in the general case when it happens."
This is the essence of the Fermi paradox I believe. (And I've ordered a copy of the book mentioned below, it looks intriguing) So what hypothesis could support billions of iterations of 'life' evolving into the multicellular form we see today and in our past, and so few evolving technology?
I totally agree it is a somewhat useless question to ponder but I can't help it.