Quote:
Originally Posted by bill_mchale
Well, lets keep in mind that older is a relative term when we are talking about stars. Our Sun is roughly 5 billion years old, the Universe is about 14 billion. But the stars that cause Supernovas actually have much shorter life spans (at least the ones that are not caused by white dwarfs in binary star systems). Thus I suspect there well could be stars that are 7-8 billion years old that have everything that is needed to form life.
Also lets keep in mind, that life might develop towards intelligence more quickly than it did on Earth. We have had life on Earth for at least a 3.4 billion years, and complex life has existed for the last 600 million or so. I think there is probably enough time that it would be quite remarkable if we were among the very first civilizations in the galaxy... unless of course we are unique.
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There are so many variables involved, from the state of the local galaxy (free of damaging influences like quasars and supernovas), the state of the system (free of damaging radiation or constant bombardment), the state of the planet (the right mix of chemicals, the right mix of energy, lack of damaging radiation), and the state of the life (enough space and energy to freely and chaotically develop, lack of/ability to repel predators), and finally, a
reason to develop beyond the status quo (avoiding predation, internal competition, environmental pressure)... and that's the short list. Many scientists have pointed out that the incredible balance of all those elements is needed for life to even begin, much less grow and thrive; and that the fact that humans have overcome those odds is one Godly finger short of a miracle.
Given all that, I could easily believe that humans are unique in the galaxy, and that life itself is extremely rare. I could also believe that life might be much more resilient and populous in this universe, but the ability to raise to an intelligent state is exceedingly less likely than life's reaching a comfortable stagnation well before intelligence or civilization is reached... IOW, lots of plants, a few simple animals, and that's about it.
Say... have we "broken down" this genre sufficiently enough yet?