It's Just That For a Second It Looked Like Dad Had Melted
Hmmm...maybe Burnsie was right:
So. Life on Earth began some 3 billion years ago, with boring-ass algae-cum-bacteria, the first prokaryotes (anucleated cells). By 1.7 billion years ago, some them had begun living inside others, and we got eukaryotes (nucleated cells). Then, for a long time, nothing happened. 'Round about 600 million years ago, eukaryotes developed social inequality (they'd been more-or-less egalitarian all along), and the first invertebrates came about. So, basically, life on Earth that was more interesting than slime or goo has only been around for 600 million years, and people worthy of the name have only been around for a million years or so.
What I want to distill from this is that although Earth may be 4 billion years old, non-slime life is only 7% as old, and what is commonly understood to be 'intelligent life' clocks in at a piddling .004 per cent.
Then consider that even though Earth has another 7 billion years left it will probably be sterile in a billion years, save perhaps a few prokaryotic extremophiles. For the sake of argument, let's be super-über-ultra-generous and say some "intelligent life" with technological capabilities at least equivalent to those of 1970 prospers on Earth for the next 300 million years (0.3 billion). Doing the math, there'll have been 1970-capable life for 7% of Earth's existence until then, or 3% of Earth's total existence.
If there is, or was, or will be extraterrestrial life with the equivalent of even 1900-capable technology, I'd say we're not likely ever to find out about it.
But what I find even more disheartening is that, all told, Earth will have had life of any sort for 5 billion of its 11 billion years of existence, and multicellular life for only 1 billion of those 11 billion: and all, all of it will have been during the first half of Earth's existence. Given also that, on a planetary scale, Earth is smoother than billiard ball, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that life is little more than a persistent infection.
...my greatest nemesis.... I call this enemy, 'the sun.'
So. Life on Earth began some 3 billion years ago, with boring-ass algae-cum-bacteria, the first prokaryotes (anucleated cells). By 1.7 billion years ago, some them had begun living inside others, and we got eukaryotes (nucleated cells). Then, for a long time, nothing happened. 'Round about 600 million years ago, eukaryotes developed social inequality (they'd been more-or-less egalitarian all along), and the first invertebrates came about. So, basically, life on Earth that was more interesting than slime or goo has only been around for 600 million years, and people worthy of the name have only been around for a million years or so.
What I want to distill from this is that although Earth may be 4 billion years old, non-slime life is only 7% as old, and what is commonly understood to be 'intelligent life' clocks in at a piddling .004 per cent.
Then consider that even though Earth has another 7 billion years left it will probably be sterile in a billion years, save perhaps a few prokaryotic extremophiles. For the sake of argument, let's be super-über-ultra-generous and say some "intelligent life" with technological capabilities at least equivalent to those of 1970 prospers on Earth for the next 300 million years (0.3 billion). Doing the math, there'll have been 1970-capable life for 7% of Earth's existence until then, or 3% of Earth's total existence.
If there is, or was, or will be extraterrestrial life with the equivalent of even 1900-capable technology, I'd say we're not likely ever to find out about it.
But what I find even more disheartening is that, all told, Earth will have had life of any sort for 5 billion of its 11 billion years of existence, and multicellular life for only 1 billion of those 11 billion: and all, all of it will have been during the first half of Earth's existence. Given also that, on a planetary scale, Earth is smoother than billiard ball, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that life is little more than a persistent infection.
posted by Dr. Bubbles at 09:41
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