How fast can a civilization evolve?

[popeye18]

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They would all die within 50 years, probably a lot sooner.

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I was just thinking about this. The chances of them all dieing off is proabably somewhat significant.

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I might be thinking too highly of them, but thinking that lacking "basics" like paper would take any time at all to overcome is severely underestimating our best and brightest.

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I used the paper idea as a kind of metaphor. They are starting with completely raw materials in the ground. other examples... How long is it going to take them to have the machinery to dig for oil/natural gas when they have no fuels? How long is it going to take them to mine iron succesfully when they dont have steel?