We are a necessary but insufficient part of the proof of life. One cannot say "no proof" when necessary proof has been achieved. All that remains is a second example -- the first took several billion years to achieve self awareness.
But that is a belief that says it can happen again. It is not a proven belief. And the whole reason we are looking out in space is to prove it.
But I don't think we will find it. Life is special. The earth is special. And all the planets and all the stars and all the solar systems and all the galaxies cannot make something special again. So alas, we are earth. and we are all that is out there. And the rest of the universe is just there for our awe. That is how special we are.
I don't think life is special. I'm interested to understand the range of its generation.
Multicellular life is certainly less common, and sapience is also less common (and may not be only an emergent property of multicellular life) than just replicating chemical structures.
Certain pushes in Earth's history likely shaped and sculpted current state, but the general factors aren't terribly uncommon (water, Goldilocks zone, somewhat stable solar systems, etc.). Moons at our size are less common, and whether that is crucial is unknown. Snowball earth and hell-phase may be common. Plate tectonics may be a limiting factor.
I look forward to humanity discovering this, then finally agreeing that perpetuation of sapience generally or humanity specifically beyond the heat death of the universe is a good goal, much better than the common banal drivel that drives our wars or religions today.
> finally agreeing that perpetuation of sapience ... beyond the heat death of the universe is a good goal, much better than the common banal drivel that drives our wars or religions today.
If you are looking for a goal, then you are looking for a fight or a war.
Instead, a good goal is what comes from the good lessons of religions: the idea that humanity is nothing, that you are nothing, that your plans are nothing, and all that matters is the creator and the rewards he set abound around the problems that you struggle against. Lessons like good vs evil are derived from this paradigm. And the paradigm also inspires studying the universe from obsession with the creator's enigma.
OTOH all ideas that lead to war and conflict grow from obsession with the self. If not the self, then with your people, and if not the people then with your hatred for anyone other than your self and your people.
