[js1138]

Hogwash if you like, but over tens of millions of years, any intelligent beings are going to try to span the distances. You really have a billion years or so to work with.

[RadioAstronomer]

Hogwash if you like, but over tens of millions of years, any intelligent beings are going to try to span the distances. You really have a billion years or so to work with.

I'm note sure that is the case. The universe is approximately 14 billion years old and the heavier elements were formed in supernovae. So for planets and life to arise, it had to be in the second or third stellar generations. Intelligence also took 4 billion years to come to fruition on this planet, why not others. We all may be emerging about the same time. Some sooner others later, but the history of the human race is such a tiny time compared to the time life has been on this planet.

[Focault's Pendulum]

Bump for later reading