How long have we been here?
By ‘we’, I mean humankind. By ‘here’, I mean the universe.
Consider these amazing facts:
The universe is 13.8 billion years old.
The Earth is 4.5 billion years old.
Humankind has been around for about 200,000 years.
So the universe is around 70,000 times older than humans.
If the age of the universe was represented by a year of 365 days – the notion of the cosmic calendar – then humans appeared on 31 December at 11.52 pm.
So the universe has managed most of its life so far without us and the chances are that it will manage most of its future without us.