Actually, there are wildly varying theories on the possibility of life on other worlds and how it gets to that point.
Some interesting science:
Most early stars were too deficient in heavier elements (ie heavier than helium) to be likely to produce planets with the chemical composition to support life-as-we-know-it.... or even life-as-we-can-concieve of it.
So sapient alien societies
billions of years older than our own, is rather improbable.
Many older stars are red dwarfs, type M. Most scientists think life-bearing planets around M-type stars improbable; the planet would have to be very close in orbit, would be tide-locked, etc... lots of complications. Orange K's are a better bet, but still they have smaller lifezones and substantial chance of tide-locking of planets in that zone.
G-type stars like our own, a bit on the middle-aged side, are actually the best bets for planets with life-as-we-know-it. So now this begs the question... how likely is it that life on some other planet evolved earlier than ours, given stars around the same age? Well, who can say... G-type stars of the same Population could be a billion or more years older or younger... various factors could cause advanced life to evolve faster or more slowly than ours (stipulating evolution without necessarily accepting it).
What about technological development? We allegedly went (depending on what homo-whateverus you want to stipulate as the beginning of humanity) tens of thousands of years or more with hardly any tech development at all. Theoretically an alien sapient could be a million years older than our species and still be making stone axes... or thousands of years younger but still be more advanced.
Or perhaps they decided, a million years ago, that they preferred stability to progress. (There have been human societies that made that choice... China and Japan come to mind...) In which case they might not be quite so astoundingly advanced comparatively Or perhaps they suffered repeated societal collapses for millions of years before learning to escape their solar system (ie The Mote in God's Eye, Niven/Pournelle).
They might be more advanced than us in physics, but not so much in computers and less advanced in biotechnology... perhaps they have a taboo against it, or outlawed it after some kind of disaster.
Thing is, we have no idea. It's all speculation. If aliens showed up tomorrow they might be some sort of benevolent and serene super-advanced Hoobajoos who want to play Pied Piper and lead us to peace and prosperity for all. :lol:
Or they might be lassiez-faire capitalist magpies who want to trade the contents of the Louvre and the Smithsonian in return for interstellar equivalent of a handful of beads. :lamo
We have no way of knowing... but that doesn't stop us from speculating wildly and making any number of unwarranted assumptions.
