“Silent cosmic rulers” by Magnus Vinding

In this post, I wish to outline an alternative picture to the grabby aliens model proposed by Hanson et al. (2021). The grabby aliens model assumes that “grabby aliens” expand far and wide in the universe, make clearly visible changes to their colonized volumes, and immediately prevent life from emerging in those volumes. In contrast, the picture I explore here involves what we may call “quiet expansionist aliens”. This model also involves expansion far and wide, but unlike in the grabby aliens model, the expansionist aliens in this model do not make clearly visible changes to their colonized volumes, and they do not immediately prevent life from emerging in those volumes — although they do prevent emerging civilizations from developing to the point of rivaling the quiet expansionists’ technology and power. The reason I explore this alternative picture is that I think it is a neglected possible model for [...] ---Outline:(01:08) 1. What changes in the quiet expansionist model?(02:26) 2. Arguments against the quiet expansionist model(02:45) 2.1 “Implausible motive”(06:23) 2.2 “Implausible convergence”(10:31) 3. Arguments in favor of the quiet expansionist model?(13:06) 3.1 Qualifications to this argument(14:39) 4. Objection: Fails to explain earliness(16:52) 5. Conclusion(17:50) AcknowledgmentsThe original text contained 1 image which was described by AI. --- First published: July 15th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dtLXpHWjeDaB7hZW7/silent-cosmic-rulers --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.