RE: Scientists: 100 million worlds may have complex alien life in our galaxy
June 9, 2014 at 2:43 pm
(June 9, 2014 at 1:32 pm)Tea Earl Grey Hot Wrote: What would be the probability of life elsewhere matching or exceeding our intelligence? Humans have existed for a very very short time relative to the rest of Earth's history and there aren't any other lifeforms that match us in intelligence on Earth (dolphins might come close though). That doesn't make me very confident that there are very many other intelligent beings out there in the universe.
Consider this - our solar system is relatively young. Metal-rich stars have been forming in our galaxy for billions of years longer than the sun's age. Terrestrial planets could also - and we are starting to find them. Hardly conclusive, of course.
What would life look like if it had a billion or more years head start on us (us being the entire collection of organisms on Earth)?
