Recent content by Loren1

You presume that we are the only life in the Milky Way or that I was simply referring to ourselves. We may or may not be here, but anything that remains or emerges during the merger will be in hard times compared to the mature calm we are used to.

That was my precise point and you did a nice job describing it. The anthropic principle provides a framework.

I think the word here is anthropic. That is, the universe must be of the correct age and state that is compatible with that which observes it. That rules out a significant block of time between T0 and about 5 to 10 billion years ago. It's a little like discovering puberty. You won't find it in...