There are no others…

Earth’s civilization is the result of a process so long, so complex and with such a strong coefficient of randomness that the probability of its repetition is negligible. Hence the new paradigm that we are alone. And since we are alone, we have increased, not decreased, responsibility. We cannot excuse ourselves by saying that others will somehow do a better job. There are no others – or at least that seems to be the most likely hypothesis.

S. Lem, Are We Alone?, 302, in: S. Lem, Lem’s Planet. Timeless Fiction, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 2016.