> Life might be possible with simpler chemistry too.
Yeah, but we since we know of only one instance of life developing we don't really know what's actually possible and what only might be possible.
> Chemistry was sufficient 100 million years ago for intelligent life to evolve, so some other solar system could've easily have had intelligent life for that long or even longer if they were lucky.
What I'm saying is that time it took life to develop on our planet is so close to the age of the universe (not even one order of magnitude of difference) that it's entirely possible that we were the lucky ones and the next intelligent life (or even eukaryotic life) in the universe won't show up for another few billions of years. Although it will inevitably show up.
> Our lives have changed beyond recognition in the last 500 years. Imagine a civilization that's thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years ahead of us.
However technological capabilities of life didn't change at all in last 4 bn years despite it being in control of the whole planet for that long. Technology seems to need a really long runway to fly off.
Another thing is that once technology kicks in as you noticed it develops incredibly fast and it influences the environment at the same speed. And life doesn't really like fast changes to environment so the technology in hundred thousand years might make this world completely unlivable.
Yeah, but we since we know of only one instance of life developing we don't really know what's actually possible and what only might be possible.
> Chemistry was sufficient 100 million years ago for intelligent life to evolve, so some other solar system could've easily have had intelligent life for that long or even longer if they were lucky.
What I'm saying is that time it took life to develop on our planet is so close to the age of the universe (not even one order of magnitude of difference) that it's entirely possible that we were the lucky ones and the next intelligent life (or even eukaryotic life) in the universe won't show up for another few billions of years. Although it will inevitably show up.
> Our lives have changed beyond recognition in the last 500 years. Imagine a civilization that's thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years ahead of us.
However technological capabilities of life didn't change at all in last 4 bn years despite it being in control of the whole planet for that long. Technology seems to need a really long runway to fly off.
Another thing is that once technology kicks in as you noticed it develops incredibly fast and it influences the environment at the same speed. And life doesn't really like fast changes to environment so the technology in hundred thousand years might make this world completely unlivable.