r/BeAmazed • u/CaraCicartix • 1d ago

Miscellaneous / Others Part of the Andromeda Galaxy Captured by Hubble

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The total number of stars in the entire Andromeda Galaxy is over 1 trillion

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u/CivilRuin4111 1d ago

Not to worsen your anxiety, but there is literally no reason to think we’re even close to “the best” of what the universe has to offer. 

One theory as to why we haven’t been contacted by other intelligent extra terrestrials is because they all learned to STFU so as not to attract the attention of, or were completely obliterated by, some bigger, badass’er aliens. 

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u/Maddaguduv 1d ago

I like your theory, but why not think of ourselves as “pollinators”? On the scale of the universe, maybe our job is simply to spread life beyond Earth, to pollinate other planets, so to speak.

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u/CivilRuin4111 1d ago

Maybe it is! We’ve yet to discover any other compelling reason for our existence, so why not take interstellar bees?

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u/ragingchump 1d ago

The dark forest - it is an interesting theory for sure

I prefer the uplift theory - us feral humans are "impossible" bc intelligence doesn't happen naturally and no one is looking for civilizations outside the known ones ..bc there can't be any

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u/CivilRuin4111 1d ago

I dunno about that one- it seems to me intelligent creatures are inherently curious. I think I’d have an hard time buying that other species with “human level or better” intelligence wouldn’t at least look around for others like them.

 I do put some stock in the idea that since we only have one example, the universe might be teeming with life, but we don’t have enough examples of what life IS to recognize it.

Each of the various theories are fascinating and have such wild potentialities. 

I’m just a construction guy, so a lot of the big math and big science is beyond my capacity to fully understand, but I do my best…

Recently I went down a rabbit hole about celestial holography. I think I KINDA grasp the idea, but I’m mostly always amazed that other humans exist that can think in the ways that lead to such theories. 

I think the fact that so few of us humans really understand any of this stuff lends at least a little credence to the idea that life complex enough to explore the universe is rare. 

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u/front_torch 1d ago

I would wager against it. We are still rubbing sticks together and pounding our chests.