This topic is prefaced by a simple question? What are the qualities of intelligence and do we have the standing to define intelligent life?
While is is exorbitantly mathematically improbable for Earth to be the only harbor of life in the Universe whose size is far beyond our ability to comprehend, there has as of yet been no conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial life in the universe. And to be sure scientists have only been able to look for what they refer to as 'intelligent' life through methods like radio waves. The reason for this comes down to the fact that we aren't actually looking for life but rather life like humanity. While the idea of life out in the universe will automatically change if we find life on Europa, it is safe to assume that life even without evidence that there is indeed life of some sort out there. The reason for making the assumption has to do with the fact that there are believed to be something like 10^21 solar systems in the universe and our modest start has 8 planets on its own and 193 moons. So for life to only be on Earth would be a 1 in billions upon billions of billions (some incredibly large number that no one here can pronounce).
Now getting back to the topic question, knowing that the likelihood of life out there being at effectively 100% how do we determine intelligence? Being as though there is so much that we don't know, is it okay to assume that no one has contacted us because there is no nearby intelligence? Do you consider humanity intelligent?
What if their was a planet (and of course there is) with life exactly like Earth without humans? Should we be concerned with looking for life without creatures like us on it?
Last edited by CosmicSex - on 27 March 2019
