Can two civilizations on nearby stars develop independently but be at a similar technological level?

One thing that a few science fiction films seem to get wrong: it is extremely unlikely for two civilizations to evolve completely independently and yet be within a few hundred years of each other technologically when they make contact. They are more likely to be millions or billions of years apart.

Could this be made more likely by some large-scale catastrophe that affects both star systems, causing mass extinctions in both at the same time, or by some other means?

I was thinking of two stars, say 5 to 20 light years apart. Planetary life emerged in both at roughly the same time in terms of billions of years - still not very likely but possible. Then both stars drift through the same cloud of interstellar debris, or pass close to the same massive object or other star (maybe each other?) - this causes a mass extinction in both star systems (still no civilization). At that time, maybe the lifeforms at star A were more advanced biologically by millions of years than at star B, but the mass extinction brings both down to the same level. Could events like that, or something else, synchronize the development of civilizations at different stars so that they are at a similar technological level (within about 300 years)?

More specifically, could one of those planets be Earth?

posted about 10 years ago

System‭

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