Re: Sorry, too late...
We can't rule out the idea that civilisations can last for long periods. Even modern humanity has been around for anything between 500-5000 years depending how you define 'modern'. We've no idea if our civilisation is just getting started or about to enter some sort of steady state, or likely to be gone soon, but neither do we have any idea what the norm is in other advanced civilisations... there might be some which exist for many thousands of years or even longer especially if we suppose intelligent life were quite common.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
