No one knows just how common or uncommon complex life is. Considering that we only have a sample of 1 and it has complex life, concluding it is uncommon is a little premature.
We needed millions and millions of years to evolve, and also mass extinctions (if the dinosaurs wouldn’t gone extinct we wouldn’t be here) and of course a suitable situation for us to do so, the large moon, Jupiter, our exact position, axis and location regarding our sun. It’s just too much to take into account to simple life to exist, let alone complex life and let alone CONSCIOUS LIFE
I've noticed something in the last 40+ years, there's been an ever more complex web of Life happening in our Cities and Suburbs, wild life is learning how to live with and live Off Humans in greater numbers.
I have lived a long time for an animal, only a few other creatures will achieve my years, I have seen/heard/read many things & in my humble opinion Peter Ward & Co. is Spot On. Many will quote the Drake Equation, but the Drake equation is WAY incomplete, many discoveries since has expanded that list
I hate when people try to re-write history, just to make themselves feel "inclusive". Western societies dominated the world because they WERE inherently more advanced technologically, socially cohesive, better-educated and less inclined to barbarism. They experimented and had systems to write, publish and spread knowledge. "Intellectual contributions of non-European thinkers and reformers"? Please. No one cares about what some Swami, bathing in the filthy Ganges, had to say about anything.
