Why humanity might be the universe’s sole intelligent lifeform.
Prof. David Kipping of the Cool Worlds lab at Columbia University spoke with John Michael Godlier about his most recent paper. What are the odds for intelligent life? Are there alien civilizations in the galaxy? Or are the odds against intelligent life?
Prof. Kipping attempts to find answers to these questions using a Bayesian Analysis to look at lifeโs early start and our late arrival. The rare earth hypothesis argues that the origin of life and the evolution of biological complexity required an improbable combination of astrophysical and geological events and circumstances.