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Except the universe has been around 13 billion years, and our solar system has only been around 3-5 billion, so it seems unlikely we are the first.
by simonoff 11y ago
Except the universe has been around 13 billion years, and our solar system has only been around 3-5 billion, so it seems unlikely we are the first.
- losteric 11y agoFirst where? Universe? Supercluster? Local group? Galaxy? It does seem unlikely that we are the first. But if it takes the average galaxy 20 billion years to evolve stable interstellar life, we may never hear from the others - even if there are millions of other civilizations in the universe. The question here isn't the odds of interstellar life evolving. The question is how frequently interstellar life evolves in neighboring regions of space at similar times while displaying mutually recognizable signs of intelligence.
- jcranmer 11y agoOur life requires elements heavier than iron, which means stars had to have come and gone for our life to exist. Given that stars didn't exist until the universe was a few hundred million years old, and that stars last a few billion years before exploding, there's only around one or two billion years of head start for anything similar to us to have started existing before we did.