Chapter 161: The Demise of Mars and the Mysterious Venus

"Has the 'Earth is ordinary' theory been thoroughly debunked by the research of those big shots?"

"Yes, precisely debunked. They wanted to find more evidence of aliens, but ended up finding nothing. Instead, they verified that Earth is not ordinary."

"Good grief, does that mean our Earth and we humans on Earth are very special existences?"

"Not necessarily, but there is relevant evidence indicating that Venus over two billion years ago was just like Earth, suitable for biological survival. Some scholars also believe that humans on Earth were not the first to appear in the Solar System."

"What? Really?"

"It's true. I'm an astronomy graduate student. Venus was indeed very suitable for human survival in prehistoric times. According to numerous studies over the years, billions of years ago, Venus possessed suitable temperatures, liquid water, and a stable climate. These conditions made it highly likely to be a habitable planet. For two to three billion years after its formation, Venus remained habitable for life. Furthermore, direct research indicates that liquid water and a temperate climate may have existed on the surface of Venus for at least three billion years. Think about it yourselves: what era was Earth in 3 billion years ago?"

"I study geography. Three billion years ago, our Earth's environment was vastly different from the modern Earth. At that time, Earth was covered by oceans, had almost no land, and the surface temperature was extremely high, reaching over 500°C at one point."

"Hiss… damn, if humans really existed on Venus back then, then for them, our Earth was just like how we humans on Earth view Venus today, right?"

"Yes, and that's just Venus. There is also research suggesting that about 3 billion years ago, the temperature on Mars was also suitable for human survival. Therefore, I strongly suspect that we humans on Earth are the third planet in the Solar System where humans appeared."

"Then what about Jupiter and Mercury?"

"Forget it, Jupiter is gaseous. If there is life, it would be gaseous life. But reality tells us that within the Solar System, only these three planets could have possibly hosted humans."

"Is there a possibility that currently in the universe, there really are only humans on Earth? It's just that the humans who appeared on those other planets went extinct, more or less because the planets became unsuitable for survival?"

"It's possible, but there's no evidence. It can only be treated as after-dinner conversation!"

"..."

Jiang Zhe's 'Earth is ordinary' theory, combined with the appearance of some students in relevant fields, made the livestream very lively.

They all began to discuss whether humans on Earth were the first to appear in the Solar System.

However, most professionals gave a definitive answer: there is an 80% probability that they were not.

Some viewers in the comments also raised the question: if that's the case, then where did the Venusians and Martians go? Did they go extinct?

This question happened to be relayed to Jiang Zhe by the director.

Jiang Zhe was taken aback. He was just about to proceed to the next step, 'The Earth is Special' theory, but to satisfy the audience's curiosity, he naturally wouldn't ignore it.

"Audience in the livestream, I have received your request."

"Before we start the next step, let's briefly talk about your question."

Hearing the reply, the audience was immediately excited.

"Damn, you really understand your fans. I just arrived in the livestream, and I have to follow you now."

"Everyone, those with money, please support with money; those without, please support with your presence!"

"Love it, love it!"

"..."

Facing the camera, Jiang Zhe pondered and explained:

"Let's talk about Mars first. Some think it had life before, and some think it didn't."

"But in reality..."

"It didn't have life. Why?"

"As everyone knows, at least two-thirds of the history of the surface of Mars is over 3.5 billion years old."

"And as early as 4.48 billion years ago, it was suitable for us humans to live on. Back then, it had oceans, water, and vegetation."

"If Mars had life, then it would have been 500 million years earlier than the earliest life that appeared on Earth."

"The earliest life that appeared on Earth is commonly thought to be cyanobacteria. In reality, even earlier than that were actinomycetes, green sulfur bacteria, emeralds, cyclostomes, blue-green fungi, predatory algae, corals, sea scorpions, eels, and other organisms."

"These count as 'life'."

"If Mars could have had 'life' back then, it would only have been these simple organisms, not intelligent humans."

"Don't rush to refute, there is factual basis for this. Mars did indeed have life once. This July, the United States NASA's Perseverance rover discovered a rock named 'Cheyava Falls' in the Jezero crater on Mars."

The director was very in sync and projected the crater on the surface of Mars and that huge rock onto the whiteboard.

"As you can see, there are some features on this rock that directly indicate that Mars billions of years ago supported the existence of microbial life."

"Later, scientists analyzed the chemical characteristics and structure of this rock and concluded that these features might be the result of ancient life activity."

"As for intelligent humans, that could not possibly have appeared on Mars, because Mars was only in its initial stage at that time."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that even if Mars had suitable conditions at that time, it didn't have enough time to evolve beings like intelligent humans."

"The reason we say 'life' is to refer to those with simple structures, not ones as complex as us humans."

"From the appearance of the first life on Earth to the appearance of humans, do you know how long it has been?"

Jiang Zhe first held up the number 3, then the number 8, pointing them at the camera.

"As you can see, 3.8 billion years."

"To make it easier for everyone to understand, I will briefly popularize the ages of the planets in the Solar System."

"Mercury: 7.994 billion years, Venus: 5.925 billion years, Earth: 4.974 billion years, Mars: 4.028 billion years, Jupiter: 2.179 billion years, Saturn: 1.610 billion years, Uranus: 1.135 billion years, Neptune: 0.907 billion years, Pluto: 0.791 billion years."

"As the data shows, our Earth is currently only 4.974 billion years old, while Mars has a history of 4.028 billion years."

"In other words, 3 billion years ago, Mars, in the early stage of just having given birth to life, very quickly became unable to support the continued birth of life due to extreme climatic conditions."

"Therefore, Mars, very unfortunately, was destined not to produce intelligent creatures during its growth process; not even creatures like cats or dogs ever appeared!"

Jiang Zhe said this very firmly!

Because the science of his previous life had long ago detected that no complex life had ever appeared on Mars.

Hearing all of this, the audience looked disappointed.

"Professionals are indeed professionals. I was just fantasizing that Mars might have life, but it turns out it's nothing."

"At least Mars did have simple life once, consistent with Earth's early days; it's just that Mars suddenly came to an abrupt halt back then."

"If our Earth, during the early stage of life's birth, had also faced extreme climate change, it might very well have stopped producing life too?"

"To the person above, it did happen on Earth: the Archean, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. Within each of Earth's age ranges, there have been more or less severe climate changes. Either asteroid impacts or Earth itself had problems. Mars just happened to have an accident during these age stages."

"Right, you can even say: 'Mars is the younger brother who died in an accident when Earth was 18 years old'."

As soon as this comment appeared, it made the audience, who were previously lamenting the lack of life on Mars, burst into laughter.

"Damn, that sentence cracked me up..."

"But this analogy is really vivid. Mars is indeed the younger brother who died in a car accident at 18; now, if converted into a human, Earth is already a 50-year-old middle-aged 'uncle'."

"Hahaha, why don't you say Earth is a 'middle-aged mother'..."

"Screw you!"

"..."

At this moment, in the lecture hall.

Astronomers and archaeologists nodded in approval.

If Mars hadn't encountered a series of accidents back then, at the very least, it would have given birth to intelligent life similar to humans.

According to modern science, the lower the gravity, the taller the intelligent life that is born!

Another factor affecting the size of life is the oxygen content.

In ancient times, the massive size of dinosaurs and pterosaurs, when compared to modern chickens, ducks, and birds—which are close relatives of ancient dinosaurs—shows that as time passed, their size became smaller and smaller!

These existences directly prove this point.