The Great Filter--the most important question in history

[marylandblue]

1. I think the filter is behind us, in the development of intelligent life

And this is just based on the one example we know of - us. There has been life on earth for almost 4 billion years. Only in the last 600 million years has there been multicellular life. So 85% of life's time on earth, there was nothing but amoebas and bacteria. Humans have only been here for 300,000 years. So 99.95% of the time there has been multicellular life, there was no species even capable of technical civilization. That's a tiny bit of time. It suggest intelligence+tool use is either not particular advantageous or difficult to acquire.

Doesn't mean we won't blow ourselves up. But I'd rather think our best days are ahead of us. It's easier that way.