JBLeafturn t1_j1v7h9z wrote on December 27, 2022 at 5:27 PM

Reply to comment by DreamChaserSt in do we really believe aliens can decode the golden records by Calm-Confidence8429

I think we needed to do SOMETHING. The way I see it, in a billion years sol will be dust and embers and there's a 50/50 chance that the voyager may be the only thing that survived it.

DreamChaserSt t1_j1v8dhl wrote on December 27, 2022 at 5:33 PM

That's a bit extreme, but any probes we have past Mars should still be around, and we have more than just Voyager traveling outside the solar system (New Horizons, Pioneer, etc).

I personally think we'll still be around in a billion years. Or at least some distant descendents of ours, that can trace themselves back to humanity. Once we can settle other planets, something that should be possible in this century, it would be just about impossible for us to go extinct, so our chances of still existing in some way millions of years and more from now go way up.

adamantium99 t1_j1va2wk wrote on December 27, 2022 at 5:44 PM

This is not consistent with current understanding of stellar evolution. The sun won’t be turning into a red giant for about 5 billion years and then it has a long , long future as a white dwarf ahead of it.

JBLeafturn t1_j1var8m wrote on December 27, 2022 at 5:49 PM

For dramatic emphasis I consider the white dwarf as an "ember" here, but TIL that the sun is considered to have around 5 billion years left. I find that a bit heartening because if Humanity goes extinct at least there'll be enough time for life to evolve another intelligent species.