I am reminded of this episode of Babylon 5.

Could be distance, especially for any sort of radio transmissions we are looking to receive. If a civilization has achieved some type of faster than light travel, then it is probability. I play a space game, Elite Dangerous. The game world is a simulation of our galaxy, 400 billion stars and you can fly to every one. Some have planets and you can also fly to each of those. The ship in game can jump a max of 45 light years give or take so a lot of stars are passed right by. We have been broadcasting low level radio signals for a little over 100 years so that is how far signals have traveled in light years. The odds of some advanced civilization being in the right place at the right time are enormous.

@Mark013 It's been 83 years since the first televised program and they were fairly low power I'd imagine. We already know there are only a few hundred planets that close. We don't hear anything yet... But who knows what next year brings.

Who knows if they would be carbon based. It seems likely but what about being based on silicone. Would their communication be via radio?

just to exist at the same time would be remarkable.

@hankster I’ve no doubt they’re ‘out there’ … just too far removed for us to meet

@Varn too far removed in time just as muchas space. how long can a species exist? we've got a few billion years to play with.

@hankster Hopefully, we’ll soon detect ‘a message’ sent thousands of light years ago ... from an intelligent and advanced form of life. I think the best we can hope for is the conformation that ‘something else’ is out there and ‘our kind’ will be given both hope and incentive to ..some day answer them ~