Are we the first, or one of the first civilizations in the galaxy?

[Humanist_Activist]

4. If we get into probabilities, it seems possible that life might be common...

civilizations vanishingly rare if we aren't unique entirely.

Sample size of one is a problem, but its better than zero, so we can't ever say that life, or even civilization is impossible to exist in the universe, for we exist.

Also, I've heard that red dwarves actually have lifespans going into trillions of years, and they are the most common type of star in the galaxy.

As far as lifespan of the Galaxy, I think its about 4 billion years, when it will begin to merge with the Andromeda Galaxy. The resulting galaxy, coined Milkmedia, will have over a trillion stars in it.

I do wonder about the lifespan of technological civilization. I guess even a civilization that has colonized several solar systems could theoretically collapse. And a nearby supernova or gamma ray burst could wipe out at least a localized civilization. Thankfully, from our observations, we are too far away from any star likely to go boom anytime soon to cause us harm.