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Reply #10: There is no need to start colonizing the Galaxy right away. [View All]

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Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion: Presidential (Through Nov 2009) Donate to DU
Lionel Mandrake Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-03-09 11:30 PM
Response to Reply #7
10. There is no need to start colonizing the Galaxy right away.
What we know about hominid evolution suggests that humans, by any reasonable definition, have existed for at most a few million years. To visualize the changes, check out the reconstruction of Australopithecus afarensis, a human ancestor that lived about 3 or 4 million years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecus_afarensis

How many DUers would like a hot date with "Lucy"?

It's a reasonable extrapolation that in another few million years our descendants, if any, will not be what you would call human. Homo sapiens will have evolved into another species by then, even if we don't speed the process up by genetic engineering.

The Sun, on the other hand, will continue burning hydrogen, and thus supporting life on Earth, for another few BILLION years. That's at least 1000 times as long as there have been human beings on this planet.

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