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Comment by ajuc | Hacker News Reader

> Exactly, give it a few millennia, and some specie probably will end up like us in their own way.

I'm all for evolution, and I think animals have feelings and emotions and are smarter than they are often considered. But "they will end up like us" is highly unlikely as we know of no other such development in last few billion years.

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Sure we do. Neanderthals look to have been far more sophisticated than previously thought, for example.

Neanderthals not only developed along the same evolutionary path as us... they're full blown homo sapiens. There's a high likelihood you have Neanderthal DNA yourself. That's not an example of something else being able to develop like us independently in 5,000 years.

If all humans were wiped out today, _maybe_ over _100,000 years to 1,000,000 years_ the great apes would be able to evolve into creatures as intelligent as modern humans. But if all apes were wiped out today, it wouldn't be surprising if Earth never saw another species go to the moon. Don't forget lots of species thrived for hundred of millions of years without leaving any trace approaching even simple tool making.

> Don't forget lots of species thrived for hundred of millions of years without leaving any trace approaching even simple tool making.

Apes are hardly the only tool makers, though.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/10/crow-that-be...

I think we're up to eight (or is it nine?) species now, including Neanderthals, if the latest pans out.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/04/new-speci...

https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/people/7-homo-species-cl...

That's not independent of us, it still happened once in billions years.

Conveniently ignoring "in their own way".

If their own way doesn't include civilization then it's not really comparable, is it?

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