Re: SETI

On 27 Apr 2006 12:12:40 -0700,
uraniumcommittee@xxxxxxxxx <uraniumcommittee@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Will in New Haven wrote:
uraniumcommittee@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Of all the lame-brained, idiotic, foolish wastes of money EVER
conceived, the search for 'extra-trerrestrial intelligence' has to be
tops.

What we call intelligence, and which is unique to Homo Sapiens Sapiens,
is the result of some rather improbable evolution. Had the events on
Earth played out in any other way than the way they did (and with a few
highly improbable collisions with celestial objects perfectly timed)
the history of life on Earth would be vastly different, and we would
not be here. Intelligence is not the easiest advantage to obtain by
evolution. In fact, of all the millions of species on Earth, only ONE
lineage has attained human intelligence. It is far easier to be fast,
big, poisonous, or numerous, than smart.

What possible reason do we have to suppose that events on other worlds
parallel ours? In the entire universe, it is extremely unlikely to have
occurred more than once.

You could probably manage to be a little less indignant about this if
you realized that "we," if that includes you, are not doing it. While I
think you are wrong and will continue to contribute to SETI, I have no
intention of telling you you ought to. Nor do I have to convince you
that you are wrong.

Enjoy

Will in New Haven

What I have been trying to get across is:

'Intelligence' seems to be hard to develop even when conditions are
good. Of all the species on Earth, how many are remotely close to us?

'Intelligence' pretty much means what humans have.

In other words. for us to be looking out in space for extra-terrestrial
intelligence is like flies looking for extra-terrestrial shit.

And as we point out continually, there are other animals out there that are
nearly at human intelligence already; cetaceans, great apes and I'd say even
canids come damn close. A good deal of effort has been put into animal
intelligence (I wonder if you find that a useless area of research as well),
and it has become very clear that the difference between humans and some
other animals in intellectual capacity is in degree, and not in the absolute
presence or lack of presence.

If we can find even two or three examples on our planet of animals that
approach our capacity, then I'd say that sure alters the equation as to the
likelihood of intelligent life out there somewhat, considering the vast
number of potential Earth-like worlds to be found in the observable
universe.

--
Aaron Clausen
mightymartianca@xxxxxxxxxxx

.

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