A random distribution means that you have the same chance of hearing it in year ... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

		dghlsakjg 6 months ago \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial... A random distribution means that you have the same chance of hearing it in year 1 as you do in year 6k, right? Until there is a second one, there is nothing to statistically distinguish this from random noise.

staticman2 6 months ago [–]

This is something philosophers debate, right? Similar to the Doomsday Argument asking whether it's reasonable to assume our lives are in the middle of the human species timeline rather than at the end:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_argument

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact