4 ms·
Statistically speaking, if it happened on our planet, it can (and likely has or will) happen elsewhere. Given that there are approximately 700 quintillion plane
by SEJeff 5y ago
Statistically speaking, if it happened on our planet, it can (and likely has or will) happen elsewhere. Given that there are approximately 700 quintillion planets in the observable universe, it seems sensible to expect it to be mathematically possible and even likely that it has also developed elsehwere.
For all we know, there were space fairing civilizations in or around Alpha Centauri. Maybe they were killed in a cataclysmic event a billion years before earth was formed?
- Vetch 5y agoIt's certainly possible but you've also chained a very specific series of events to explain an observation. Such scenarios are most hygienically reasoned about using a Bayesian quantification and updating of uncertainty. There's a lot we don't know but from what we do know and the observations we've made, life is likely to be extremely rare.
- tshaddox 5y ago> Statistically speaking, if it happened on our planet, it can (and likely has or will) happen elsewhere. Given that there are approximately 700 quintillion planets But numbers can go as low as they please, statistically speaking. It’s not like “1 in a billion” is the lowest possible probability. What if there are 700 quintillion planets and the probability of life evolving on a planet is 1 in 700 sextillion and we just got really lucky?
- mod 5y agoI agree with all of this, but I don't think any of it makes the GP statement true.