[pepsionice]

You assume that “they” would be more or less as sophisticated as Earth. That might not be the case. You can find a dozen-odd cases where civilization on Earth might have been set back a hundred years or a thousand years....if one single event had gone in a different direction. Just imagine if the Black Plague had not finished itself off around 1666, and reoccurred another dozen times. Or if the 1918 Flu had mutated a bit and come around a second time by 1921. Or if the Soviets and the US had gotten into a nuke-fight over Cuba.

There might be a hundred more Earths out there with civilizations....but a thousand years behind us.

[Ransomed]

There are also possible psychological factors. It’s hard for us to imagine a super advanced civilization that wouldn’t at least send out probes or even utilize FTL communication if they had the means to do so, because that’s the way we are. But maybe that would never occur to them, or the desire to explore is an ultra rare trait.

Another possibility is that once a species gets so advanced that they do something noticeable, they get stepped on by something. That’s the Berserker explanation.

FReegards

[Moonman62]

Just imagine if the Black Plague had not finished itself off around 1666, and reoccurred another dozen times.

...

It’s believed that there were less than 1000 modern humans at one time.

[HMS Surprise]

There could be anything, or nothing. The point is that evolutionists offer the examples that point to life as being ubiquitous. If it is that, then complex life should be inevitable in many instances. Some of that life would have acquired complexity millions of years ago. Imagine us in a million years... Will we still be held captive by our solar system? On the contrary, we’ll be leaving within 500 years, which is a mere blip in cosmological time. WHERE ARE THE ANCIENT ONES? They should be here by now.

[ravenwolf]

There might be a hundred more Earths out there with civilizations....but a thousand years behind us.

---

That could be true, only the limited imagination limits the possibilities.

Maybe God limits the knowledge of man.

Or maybe humans go from one planet to another via Adam and Eve, what ever the case God is in control.