3 ms·
You are looking only at one dimension: space. But you are forgetting time. Intelligent life on Earth has existed a minuscule amount of time in the span of the u
by thecopy 6y ago
You are looking only at one dimension: space. But you are forgetting time. Intelligent life on Earth has existed a minuscule amount of time in the span of the universe. You need also to take into the probabilities that we would overlap with another intelligent life on the timeline.
- Tepix 6y agoGood point. Perhaps we ourselves originated from von Neumann probes in the form of single cell organisms, flung into space in all directions by a long gone, highly developed civilization? We don't know how long intelligent life lasts on average. Looking at our current trajectory i'd say chances are that technical civilizations are rather short-lived. PS The Paleozoic began with the Cambrian explosion 541 million year ago, that's quite a long timespan with intelligent life (not a technical civilization, however) even in galactic timescales.
- EamonnMR 6y agoConsider how long life existed before the Cambrian explosion happened though. What are the chances that metazoans evolve from a given planet's microorganisms? One in eight per billion years?
- untog 6y agoI wouldn’t recommend it as an exploration of the topic but the movie Prometheus touches on this theory.