What If Humanity Is Among The First Spacefaring Civilizations?
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Top Comments (10)
It would be both very cool and very daunting if it turned out that we were the forerunner race in the galaxy/universe
Its crazy to think that at some distant point in the future humans could be an elder race in the galaxy
This is really helpful to sci fi writers. I remember a book Roger Zelazney wrote that had humans spreading all over the galaxy. After a long time they were searching for our original planet hidden in ancient mythology. Our protagonist suspected it was on this old planet called dirt.
I think this is a case where it's helpful to apply Occam's Razor. Sure, there might be a bunch of grabby aliens rushing to colonize the rest of the universe, but that involves a lot more assumptions than "we're early". The same logic we use to assume we're fairly typical in the cosmos could just as easily be used by the very first civilization to appear, and they'd have no way of knowing how wrong they are.
If humanity would actually be the first intelligent civilization in our galaxy or even the universe, we would be studied if they found out in the future - which is also pretty cool.
People seem to be generally obsessed with the idea that we are some “infantile” civilization with primitive abilities. I think we are at least decently advanced as far as civilizations go. Keep in mind it’s entirely possible that there are thousands of civilizations if not more that haven’t even explored their entire planet, and only live on a few continents. (Oceans of course are another matter).
Being early is definitely preferable to the alternative. Since we have no way of knowing how aggressive other intelligent species may be, being early gives us time to gain a technological advantage to allow us to defend ourselves if need-be.
I always thought that knowing that the age of the universe is 13.8 billion years old, and knowing that it took humanity nearly 4.5 billion years to evolve on earth. It made perfect sense that we may be among the first intellignet species in the universe, i mean if you think about it, it took nearly a third of the age of the present universe for us to evolve. So given the sheer length of time and the extemely rare and specific conditions required for intelligent life to evolve on this planet. It would be logical to conclude that the emergence of Intelligent life is a rare and time consuming thing to occur, meaning that given the age of the universe already elapsed and how much longer the universe has yet to live, we are among the very first intelligent civilizations to evolve from the primordial soup if you will of the early universe.
You should do a historical spin off series of past discoveries, what they got wrong, what they discovered and how it is used today.
I love imagining scenarios where we’re that “wise” ancient race that everyone looks at as basically gods, like the Asgard from Stargate or the Vorlons from Babylon 5 or something. It’s much more fun to think about than seeing ourselves as the emerging “protagonist” race that has no clue what anything is in the universe.
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Top Comments (10)
It would be both very cool and very daunting if it turned out that we were the forerunner race in the galaxy/universe
Its crazy to think that at some distant point in the future humans could be an elder race in the galaxy
This is really helpful to sci fi writers. I remember a book Roger Zelazney wrote that had humans spreading all over the galaxy. After a long time they were searching for our original planet hidden in ancient mythology. Our protagonist suspected it was on this old planet called dirt.
I think this is a case where it's helpful to apply Occam's Razor. Sure, there might be a bunch of grabby aliens rushing to colonize the rest of the universe, but that involves a lot more assumptions than "we're early". The same logic we use to assume we're fairly typical in the cosmos could just as easily be used by the very first civilization to appear, and they'd have no way of knowing how wrong they are.
If humanity would actually be the first intelligent civilization in our galaxy or even the universe, we would be studied if they found out in the future - which is also pretty cool.
People seem to be generally obsessed with the idea that we are some “infantile” civilization with primitive abilities. I think we are at least decently advanced as far as civilizations go. Keep in mind it’s entirely possible that there are thousands of civilizations if not more that haven’t even explored their entire planet, and only live on a few continents. (Oceans of course are another matter).
Being early is definitely preferable to the alternative. Since we have no way of knowing how aggressive other intelligent species may be, being early gives us time to gain a technological advantage to allow us to defend ourselves if need-be.
I always thought that knowing that the age of the universe is 13.8 billion years old, and knowing that it took humanity nearly 4.5 billion years to evolve on earth. It made perfect sense that we may be among the first intellignet species in the universe, i mean if you think about it, it took nearly a third of the age of the present universe for us to evolve. So given the sheer length of time and the extemely rare and specific conditions required for intelligent life to evolve on this planet. It would be logical to conclude that the emergence of Intelligent life is a rare and time consuming thing to occur, meaning that given the age of the universe already elapsed and how much longer the universe has yet to live, we are among the very first intelligent civilizations to evolve from the primordial soup if you will of the early universe.
You should do a historical spin off series of past discoveries, what they got wrong, what they discovered and how it is used today.
I love imagining scenarios where we’re that “wise” ancient race that everyone looks at as basically gods, like the Asgard from Stargate or the Vorlons from Babylon 5 or something. It’s much more fun to think about than seeing ourselves as the emerging “protagonist” race that has no clue what anything is in the universe.