The Possibility of Early Life Life needs to pass several hard steps, from dead stuff turning into the building blocks of life to civilization being formed. It is unknown how many steps are necessary and how long they take for a technological civilization to arise, but it could be that we are among the first or even THE first in the Milky Way.

Race to the Stars If humanity is really early in terms of developing technology and expanding beyond our planet, then eventually other civilizations will catch up with us. They may face an important decision whether they stay quiet or start expanding before someone else arrives. Meeting others does not necessarily mean war or conflict but new borders may persist forever if one Loud civilization crowds out another Quiet one completely enveloped by empires without control over their fate.