you know who is likely to argue against intelligent extra-terrestrial life?

lizard people.

think about it.

i agree that intelligence seems to be lethal, here, on this planet. i even wrote a symphony about it in the late 90s.

but we really can't even talk about the chemistry of possible extra-terrestrial life, really. there's just far too many variables to be able to get a handle on this...

for example, look at the way that plants or mushrooms work, with these elaborate root structures. if a species like that evolved intelligence, it might be collective, and then the game changes. or, look at ants. smart ants would be a frightening proposition.

i want to argue the bigger issue is distance, but it's only meaningful relative to our short lives. maybe some other species has a lifespan of 10,000 years. then, these distances are manageable.

but i do think that, if there was anything close enough to contact, we'd already know about it. either there's nothing in this area of the universe or the information is being suppressed (i don't think that's so crazy....) or they were here before, and are avoiding us....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ccNt4Dzyfg