For many people the idea that we are alone in this universe is terrifying, yet it seems inconceivable given the size of the universe. As of now, however, there is no proof that there exists any intelligent life anywhere in the universe. The problem is partly rooted in the indifferentiability of space and time. Say there is intelligent life in a galaxy a billion lightyears away. That was a billion years ago, that civilization is long gone. Regardless of their ability to travel at infinite velocity, they simply do not exist. Place them closer, in Andromeda, 2.5 million years ago, every exobiologist studying the Drake equation places the lifetime of a space-baring civilization at far less than 2.5 million years; they are gone now. At the opposite end of our own galaxy, 150,000 years ago, in all likelihood, gone. Intelligent life capable of faster than light travel has to be in our immediate vicinity, because distance is time, regardless of how fast a ship can travel, the civilization must still exist.
My point is that we are the first civilization in this universe, an outlier. We must consider ourselves an outlier, possibly all life on this planet, but most certainly us, as an intelligent (and I use the term loosely) species. Unlike Star Trek, when we develop Warp Drive, we will not speed our way out into the galaxy and become part of a galactic community. We will speed our way out into an empty void. There will be no one there. We have to accept that we are probably the first civilization to exist in the cosmos, and that along with this comes a great responsibility.
All of these things happen once, here, with us, the first civilization in the cosmos. Back to this place and time in the universe all myth and folklore shall point, back to a people of a wisdom (hopefully) and a time when all of these things did occur, billions of years from now when we are long gone and our sun has long since burned out leaving nothing but a faint nebula perhaps. No one will ever truly be sure where it began. But the best of our wisdom, how many times in how many ways we so cleverly came to nearly destroying ourselves will teach them. The religion in its unadulterated form shall comfort and save them. Our technology shall open the heavens up to them. The ways and means by which we destroyed our environment shall prevent them from doing so in their worlds. Every mistake we made, and every gain we made shall guide them.
My point is that we are the first civilization in this universe, an outlier. We must consider ourselves an outlier, possibly all life on this planet, but most certainly us, as an intelligent (and I use the term loosely) species. Unlike Star Trek, when we develop Warp Drive, we will not speed our way out into the galaxy and become part of a galactic community. We will speed our way out into an empty void. There will be no one there. We have to accept that we are probably the first civilization to exist in the cosmos, and that along with this comes a great responsibility.
All of these things happen once, here, with us, the first civilization in the cosmos. Back to this place and time in the universe all myth and folklore shall point, back to a people of a wisdom (hopefully) and a time when all of these things did occur, billions of years from now when we are long gone and our sun has long since burned out leaving nothing but a faint nebula perhaps. No one will ever truly be sure where it began. But the best of our wisdom, how many times in how many ways we so cleverly came to nearly destroying ourselves will teach them. The religion in its unadulterated form shall comfort and save them. Our technology shall open the heavens up to them. The ways and means by which we destroyed our environment shall prevent them from doing so in their worlds. Every mistake we made, and every gain we made shall guide them.
