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If the transitions were inevitable given the time they took here, then we would expect to see the transitions happen concurrently throughout the planet in many
by AgentME 6y ago
If the transitions were inevitable given the time they took here, then we would expect to see the transitions happen concurrently throughout the planet in many separate instances. But we see a number of important transitions that happened exactly once on Earth.
- galgalesh 6y agoNot necessarily. A number of stages in the evolution of life require a planet devoid of more complex life forms. Spontaneous generation of cells, for example, requires very high doses of molecules that more complex life forms eat.
- fotdutah 6y agoAlso worth pointing out that this applies to some potential 'Great Filter' events that we haven't yet encountered. If intelligent cultures don't explore the universe because they destroy their own planets in destructive wars as soon as they have that level of technology, then conditional on our existing, we should expect to be the first such culture to evolve on our planet. If on the other hand, most intelligent cultures neglect to explore the universe because they are busy with art, contemplation or hedonism, we might expect to exist in a world where hyperintelligent dinosaurs, frogs and cephalopods are already sitting around enjoying these things. The fact that they aren't means that maybe our current stage of evolution was hard to reach.