That is a really interesting thought. A counterpoint for consideration: -complex life as we know it has taken 3.7 billion years to form. That doesn't mean it

That is a really interesting thought. A counterpoint for consideration: -complex life as we know it has taken 3.7 billion years to form. That doesn't mean it has to, conceivably it could have taken much less if it had of avoided some troughs and pitfalls along the way of its random walk; this also says nothing of life forms that come In conceptions we can't get our heads around. I prefer to use this information to envisage a universe where protolife arose. And, since the universe was quite a bit smaller then, it was concievably possible for whatever arose (even simple chemical reactions that we would consider quasi-biological today) to spread throughout the universe. Then, when proper galaxies formed and planets etc they were ready to be seeded by the cosmic leftovers of life's primal beginnings. I feel this is more likely than the possibility of complex intelligent life because the universe at 15 million years would still have been deeply inhospitable: giant stars going supernova left right and centre laying down the foundations of US and everything we see, and not to forget average temperature when taken to universe-scale extremes still means areas hot as buggery and cold as empty void. Still, it is fascinating to think that the precursors to all of us (you can probably tell that I was a fan of panspermia even before this news) was laid down so close to the beginning of time