I think this is likely the solution to the Fermi paradox.
I suspect that life akin to prokaryotes is common all over the universe. The eukaryotic life forms may be exceedingly rare though. So multicellular life may be rare.
It’s actually pretty wonderful when you realize all the barriers we passed on Earth to reach our current state.
1. Prokaryotic to Eukaryotic
2. Multicellular life
3. Brains
4. Social structures
5. Language
6. Happening to be alive at a time in the planet’s history where plentiful and easy to find fossil fuels ( which come from billions of years of dead life) were plentiful.
7. Achieving democracy prior to the invention of nuclear weapons.
Honestly it’s all pretty astounding. I think it must be extremely rare in the universe to have all of these things happen. Could our species be one of the first? Are we the “ancient alien species” archetype you often see in science fiction? Relative to the rest of the galaxy I mean…
I think this is likely the solution to the Fermi paradox.
I suspect that life akin to prokaryotes is common all over the universe. The eukaryotic life forms may be exceedingly rare though. So multicellular life may be rare.
It’s actually pretty wonderful when you realize all the barriers we passed on Earth to reach our current state.
1. Prokaryotic to Eukaryotic 2. Multicellular life 3. Brains 4. Social structures 5. Language 6. Happening to be alive at a time in the planet’s history where plentiful and easy to find fossil fuels ( which come from billions of years of dead life) were plentiful. 7. Achieving democracy prior to the invention of nuclear weapons.
Honestly it’s all pretty astounding. I think it must be extremely rare in the universe to have all of these things happen. Could our species be one of the first? Are we the “ancient alien species” archetype you often see in science fiction? Relative to the rest of the galaxy I mean…
gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/science/evolution-cells-a...