By definition there has to be a first intergalactic civilization, if there is to be at least one.
The universe is ~15B years old, and we expect it to keep forming stars (as good as any of a metric for “hospitable to life”) for another trillion years. In other words, we’re in the first percent or so of the lifespan of the universe.
Doesn’t seem too crazy that if we start conquering the stars, we might be the first ever species to do so.
(And if history is any indication, we’ll probably cause some sort of galactic global warming in the process, that all starfaring species after us will curse us for)
> (And if history is any indication, we’ll probably cause some sort of galactic global warming in the process, that all starfaring species after us will curse us for)
The only serious theoretical FTL paper (Alcubierre drive) I know of requires exotic matter (negative mass) or energy equivalents of entire planets so if we ever manage to build it, I think that's a fair bet.
Another paper calculated that the space-time bubble created by the Alcubierre drive would capture radiation and particles along its path, creating a gamma ray burst at the destination in a large cone in the direction of travel. Meaning, we'd be sending deadly bursts of radiation all over the galaxy that would wipe out all carbon based life for tens or hundreds of light years every single jump. A rogue actor or a miscalculation could wipe out significant fractions of our own civilization.
The universe is ~15B years old, and we expect it to keep forming stars (as good as any of a metric for “hospitable to life”) for another trillion years. In other words, we’re in the first percent or so of the lifespan of the universe.
Doesn’t seem too crazy that if we start conquering the stars, we might be the first ever species to do so.
(And if history is any indication, we’ll probably cause some sort of galactic global warming in the process, that all starfaring species after us will curse us for)