A quick reminder about our current knowledge of the universe's composition:
~5% of the universe is made out of the stuff we're made of. Sugar cubes, ice, doll houses, lithium, etc. Most of that is burning hydrogen and helium down in stars.
~20% of the universe if made out of dark matter. We know little about dark matter except that it, well, falls down.
~75% of the universe is dark energy. We know almost nothing about dark energy except that it falls up ... maybe?
Whatever million+ year old civilizations may exist have probably figured out something more about the other 95% of the universe that we know is there. Let alone all the other stuff we'll finally be detecting by the year 5001.
Even if we do decide to announce ourselves, devil may care, what are the odds that anyone out there would even be made of the stuff that could listen to us? It's not that we're in a dark forest or at a crowded dinner, it's that we're anemones talking about the other side of the tide pool.
~5% of the universe is made out of the stuff we're made of. Sugar cubes, ice, doll houses, lithium, etc. Most of that is burning hydrogen and helium down in stars.
~20% of the universe if made out of dark matter. We know little about dark matter except that it, well, falls down.
~75% of the universe is dark energy. We know almost nothing about dark energy except that it falls up ... maybe?
Whatever million+ year old civilizations may exist have probably figured out something more about the other 95% of the universe that we know is there. Let alone all the other stuff we'll finally be detecting by the year 5001.
Even if we do decide to announce ourselves, devil may care, what are the odds that anyone out there would even be made of the stuff that could listen to us? It's not that we're in a dark forest or at a crowded dinner, it's that we're anemones talking about the other side of the tide pool.