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STL comments on Planets in the habitable zone, the Drake Equation, and the Great Filter - Less Wrong
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There's a twist that actually reinforces your point. The first stars (Population III, all dead now) were metal-free. The next generation, Population II, had low metal content. Our Sun belongs to Population I, with higher metal content. So it looks like our Sun belongs to the first, maybe the second, generation of stars that could possibly support intelligent life.
To further that point, it might be worth noting here that "metal" in astronomy parlance means anything heavier than helium. Complex life might conceivably evolve without, say, iron, but life without carbon is much less likely.
Yes - did you see that I linked to the metallicity article? (Astronomers are funny.)
Should have clicked through, in retrospect.