Steve Dufour wrote:

What do you think of this idea?

http://www.unknowncountry.com/mindframe/opinion/

<snipped>

 It could easily be possible that we are the most advanced
civilization. I once read an book by Dr. Issac Asimov which
postulated that the moon is the primary cause of evolution on this
planet. We live on a planet that can be described as a double planet
due to the relative size of the moon. The moon has an enormous
influence on the tides. These tides have thrown sealife at the
beaches for eons and probably speeding evolution up quite
  dramatically. The sun also affects the tides but to a much smaller
amount. Our civilization could reach out to the stars one day only
to find planets containing single celled creatures, unless we find
  another double planet system. If anyone is interested the book was
called "The tragedy of the moon"

Interesting idea. But don't you think life would have found a way to
evolve even without tides?

 Yes, the point of this idea though is the colonization of land would occur
far faster with a large moon. Imagine a world without a moon, little tides
caused by a far away sun, what pressure would there be on any life to leave
the oceans? With 2 large tides per day all sorts of things are washed up on
the beaches, they only have to survive 12 hours. The best at surviving pass
on this trait and before you know it there are monkeys running about.
  I doubt life could reach any level of civilization to allow technology in
the sea, due to the lack of controlled fire. This would be needed to refine
metals for use in radios, computers etc.
 I do not know if life could possibly arise without water. If any biologists
are here perhaps they could answer that.


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