humanity, very unlikely

[leov]

Humans May Be the Only Intelligent Life in the Universe, If Evolution Has Anything to Say

"And yet, we're here. That must count for something, right? If evolution gets lucky one in 100 trillion times, what are the odds we happen to be on a planet where it happened? Actually, the odds of being on that improbable world are 100%, because we couldn't have this conversation on a world where photosynthesis, complex cells, or animals didn't evolve. That's the anthropic principle: Earth's history must have allowed intelligent life to evolve, or we wouldn't be here to ponder it."

 

[osgart]

That's a ton of luck! And one fine, long string of it.

Perhaps nature is ever conditioning itself to harbor life.

Either way it's astonishing what evolution has done. It's smart!

Orgel's rules - Wikipedia

 

[Nakosis]

Humans May Be the Only Intelligent Life in the Universe, If Evolution Has Anything to Say

"And yet, we're here. That must count for something, right? If evolution gets lucky one in 100 trillion times, what are the odds we happen to be on a planet where it happened? Actually, the odds of being on that improbable world are 100%, because we couldn't have this conversation on a world where photosynthesis, complex cells, or animals didn't evolve. That's the anthropic principle: Earth's history must have allowed intelligent life to evolve, or we wouldn't be here to ponder it."

Actually it's even stranger since earth had to undergo a number of catastrophic events before life as we know it could evolve.

10 Catastrophic Events that Transformed the Earth - Earthly Universe

 

[RoaringSilence]

 

[ChristineM]

That's a ton of luck! And one fine, long string of it.

Perhaps nature is ever conditioning itself to harbor life.

Either way it's astonishing what evolution has done. It's smart!

Orgel's rules - Wikipedia

Very unlikely but obviously possiible.

 

[sun rise]

Since we don't really know enough to fill in all the variables in the Drake Equation although we're getting better numbers all the time, I'm inclined to ignore such speculation.

 

[Father Heathen]

I don't understand, therefore magic.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Intelligence seems to depend on a chain of improbable events. But given the vast number of planets, then like an infinite number of monkeys pounding on an infinite number of typewriters to write Hamlet, it's bound to evolve somewhere. The improbable result was us.

The above continues to strike me as convenient mantra and little more.

 

[Valjean]

Humans May Be the Only Intelligent Life in the Universe, If Evolution Has Anything to Say

"And yet, we're here. That must count for something, right? If evolution gets lucky one in 100 trillion times, what are the odds we happen to be on a planet where it happened? Actually, the odds of being on that improbable world are 100%, because we couldn't have this conversation on a world where photosynthesis, complex cells, or animals didn't evolve. That's the anthropic principle: Earth's history must have allowed intelligent life to evolve, or we wouldn't be here to ponder it."

No! The anthropic principle and Drake equation are bunk, and have been thoroughly discredited.

There is no reason to conclude that anything "counts for" anything.
Who knows how likely life is? It may be a common, almost inevitable event given a particular set of geochemical circumstances.
Earth certainly took its time evolving intelligent life, considering that life developed shortly after conditions were such that it was possible, two and a half billion years ago. Abysmally inefficient, IMHO, and hardly indicative of any purpose.