I’ve been saying this for years!

Remember, every light year out is a year back in time. So a civilization 200 LY away might be at exactly the same technological level we are, but we would be “seeing” them at American Civil War level—ie, not at all.

We are not alone—but we might as well be.

Why aren’t we there?

Caught a clip of Carl Sagan on Carson, talking about Earth being surrounded by a bubble about 30 light years in radius, since at that time the earliest transmissions we'd sent out were about 30 years old. And, of course, those transmissions fade pretty fast. Within 100 light years they would be virtyally undetectable, except with powerful receivers that were specifically looking for them.

Same in the other direction. We have to look at the right time, in the right direction, scanning for signals we cannot even be sure our equipment could detect. It's not like we're going to accidentally pick up their version of STAR TREK.

And if we're talking about ship-to-ship communications, our chances are even smaller.

Evokes the existential dilemma: we're alone in the universe, life has no meaning, death is inevitable.

Carpe diem!