The existence of extraterrestrial life is a touchy subject. Some people believe in advanced sci-fi type aliens, some believe in alien spores or bacteria, while others just won’t even accept the possibility that there could be any other form of life in the universe. Personally, I’d find it hard to believe if there wasn’t some other life-form out there, but I’ve always hoped for intelligent life. Alexei Sharov and Richard Gordon may have just theoretically shattered my dreams.

Sharov and Gordon were able to calculate the rate at which the complexity of life has increased and use that to extrapolate back to a zero point, or the origin of life. What they came up with was a date 9.7 ± 2.5 billion years ago, or 4.2 ± 2.5 billion years older than the earth and only 4 ± 2.5 billion years younger than the universe itself. Now this leads to two implications. One, life on earth may actually have started somewhere else. Two, based on this timeline, we may be a part of the oldest lineage of life in the universe, which would theoretically make us the most advanced.

So, in the same day, we have some data that may point to extraterrestrial life, but then we find out that it may not be any more advanced than us. Of course, you have to take this all with a grain of salt. Math and Science are, after all, magic tools of the devil.

source:  MIT Technology Review