Our sun is not a typical star. Most stars are one tenth as massive and will live hundreds of times longer than the sun. Moreover, most stars formed billions of years before the sun, based on the observed star formation history since the big bang.

Why were we born so late in cosmic history around a relatively massive star like the sun? Statistically speaking, we were more likely to exist earlier or around a lower-mass star.

The Copernican principle asserts that we are not privileged observers of our universe. It stems from the discovery made half a millennium ago by Nicolaus Copernicus that we are not located at the physical center of the cosmos as thought previously. If this mediocrity principle applies to all of our cosmic circumstances, then there must be physical reasons for why our particular form of intelligent life did not arise around an early or dwarf star.

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