Thanks for the Post. I enjoy Poul Anderson and have just picked up again a collection of some of his stories.
A question I wanted asked is...
What if we are the First one to develop? At some point, something has to be # 1.
Hi, Dryman!... It’s true; we might be first. But the average star is 6.5 billion years old. The Sun and its planets are 4.5 billion years old. If the evolution of life on Earth is typical of life in the universe, life on the average life-bearing planet has a two billion year head start on us. Given these facts, how likely is it that we’re first? The situation seems to be calling out for more data.
We might be the only ones (not likely, imho). Or we might be the only ones that currently exists in some huge volume of space around us (more likely). Or ours might be the only planet with intelligent life on it (less likely). Or the only one with an advanced technological civilization on it (more likely; dolphins and whales haven’t invented anything and they’re pretty smart). Or we’re first as you suspect. Maybe the Mogradathians have exterminated all the others and just haven’t taken notice of us yet (least likely of all, but still possible). But which is it? We need more data at a time when Zero wants to turn NASA into an agency whose prime directive is reaching out to his fellow 7th Century primitives.