I’m becoming more and more convinced that earth is the only place in the universe that harbors higher forms of life. The reason is that most parts of galaxies are just far to violent to have a stable environment like we have had on earth for four billion years. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that our solar system is on the outside margin of our galaxy, with the nearest star from the sun far far away.
On Science Channel TV last night they had a simulation of galaxies spinning around a massive black hole. It looked like oatmeal going down a garbage disposal and being spit out again. There’s no way a planet like earth could survive a trip like that.
So there may be “billions and billions” of solar systems that could harbor life, but very few that could be a stable incubator for the four billions year it took man to come into the scene. Scary thought.
I'm not a creationist, but I think this is probably the case for this galaxy.
For example, it has been demonstrated that Earth has the right-sized moon to allow life to develop. Life takes a long time to develop. If the moon were smaller (or wasn't there at all), Earth would have an unstable axis: polar regions would change every 100,000 years or so and life wouldn't have a stable environment in which to develop. If the moon were bigger, we'd have an unstable double-planet system. Combined with our relatively quiet location in the galaxy, our abundance of water, our moderate size, our atmosphere and our distance from the sun, I think we have a unique place in the galaxy.