Do you ever think about the possibility that we may be a relatively young civilization?

Assuming that intelligent alien species [i]are[/i] a thing that's widespread in the universe, it's highly statistically likely that there have been many who are considerably older and more advanced than us in the 13.8 billion year lifespan of the universe.

We like to consider ourselves so very advanced from our perspective, but how do you feel about the fact that our entire species' history may be seen as nothing more than an infant's first stumbling steps? Especially by those who have been on a technological trajectory for [i]millions[/i] of years, rather than just our much shorter roughly 50,000 years of organized civilization?

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SW-User

I've always thought that of all the civilizations/species that might exist out there,we're probably the youngest and least advanced/developed/sophisticated of them all.

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UndeadPrivateer · 31-35, M

Indeed, the natural short-sightedness of the human species gets in our own way when it comes to such things. People rarely want to look past the span of their own lives or the immediate generations before and after.

SW-User

@UndeadPrivateer: Exactly!! It's like the world starts and ends with us and all that has been and will be doesn't really exist. And it's not just science,it's on so many levels.

UndeadPrivateer · 31-35, M

One of these days we'll start to wake up to the scale of existence and how infinitesimal we really are, I think it's just going to take some kind of shock to our societal system. My money's on first contact of some kind, though not necessarily aliens. I think it's quite possible that our first contact with another intelligent 'species' may actually end up being intelligent AI of our own making. Could be aliens too, though. Who knows? Certainly not I. Just very curious how our civilization is going to respond to it.

bijouxbroussard · F

And we in the U.S. have a young civilization even by comparison to many others on this planet.

UndeadPrivateer · 31-35, M

True facts. Though governments do tend to go in cycles, it's a pattern repeated throughout history. It's only a matter of time before this one collapses and is replaced by another.

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