>>14320675Correct, although I would go further and say life is almost inconceivably rare. The fact that some life on this planet became sentient adds an extra multiplier of inconceivably rareness. In all probably to the nth degree there is no other sentient life in the Universe. Even if it does exist then another inconceivably rare multiplier gives us the chance of ever encountering it.
Once the multipliers have been stacked we have reached such a level of absolutely insignificant probability of encountering other sentient life in the Universe that it may as well be zero. We are in effect alone.
It therefore becomes existentially paramount that we colonize other stars, or else find alternative ways of existing as intelligent entities. In the absence of the latter actual physical colonization appears the only practical solution. However the current status of the Human race appears to be retreating from attaining such goals. It may well then be up to either
(1) A succeeding human civilization to carry out this task
(2) A succeeding sentient Earth species other than Human to carry out this task ( in which case we Humans will not really give a fuck )
The difficulty facing either of the above two is that the easy energy dense deposits on this planet have already been cherry picked almost to exhaustion. There will not be the viable fossil fuel reserves to bootstrap a nascent civilization ( either human or not ) to the point where they can escape the gravity well. There will not be sufficient geological time for such deposits to reform before the Sun becomes a Red Giant.
The only possible exception would be the realization of an energy dense fuel source that can provide the requirements a space faring civilization. Perhaps it will be fusion or some other hitherto unknown alternative.
