The general lack of space-going aliens suggests that getting into space is harder than it sounds.
Sure, but we already knew there was a general lack of space-going aliens. Presuming this is aliens, this moves us from “are we the first? Really?” to “are we only shortly after the first? Really?”
Both of those fall under “are we the first? Really?”, or the related hypothesis that we’re shortly after the first. Or did you mean to respond to NancyLebovitz?
Or there are fewer civilizations than we expect, or something is wiping out civilizations once they go to space, or most species for whatever reason decide not to go to space, or we are living in an ancestor simulation which only does a detailed simulation of our solar system. (I agree that all of these are essentially wanting, your interpretation makes the most sense, these examples are listed more for completeness than anything else.)
The general lack of space-going aliens suggests that getting into space is harder than it sounds.
Sure, but we already knew there was a general lack of space-going aliens. Presuming this is aliens, this moves us from “are we the first? Really?” to “are we only shortly after the first? Really?”
That’s one explanation, the other being “intelligent life is harder than it sounds” and another being “any life is harder than it sounds”.
Both of those fall under “are we the first? Really?”, or the related hypothesis that we’re shortly after the first. Or did you mean to respond to NancyLebovitz?
Sorry, that was meant to be a response to Nancy Lebovitz.
Or there are fewer civilizations than we expect, or something is wiping out civilizations once they go to space, or most species for whatever reason decide not to go to space, or we are living in an ancestor simulation which only does a detailed simulation of our solar system. (I agree that all of these are essentially wanting, your interpretation makes the most sense, these examples are listed more for completeness than anything else.)