“New research published in the American Astronomical Society has confirmed through the use of a computer simulation that aliens–or humans–could potentially colonize the galaxy, a feat within the capabilities of modern Earth technology. According to the new research, doing so would only take a civilization like ours a billion years to complete.”
-Liam Stewart, “New Research Suggests We Could Conquer the Galaxy In Under A Billion Years.” The Debrief. June 28, 2021.
On the plus side, it is so rare for people to think outside of the next year or next decade, that 100 or 1,000 years from now almost never features in our discussions. So, to see something with a billion year timeline? Fantastic!
On the other hand, the universe is probably teaming with life, both making this much harder than scientists think, and by the same token, will descendants living in all these different environments be, in any way, recognizable as their original species? This is the problem in thinking in long timelines, we rarely factor in the effects of adaptation response and evolution, even when we know to factor for it.
cafebedouin.org 