The outlook for cosmic company.
The last 100 million years or so has seen a continued increase in encephalization for several terrestrial species. Intelligence has survival value. Developments in astrobiology suggest that what was once considered enormously improbable, namely life, is now suspected of being ubiquitous. It may be that the evolution of intelligence is unlikely, but in a finite, breathtakingly large universe (10(22) stars) small probability likely does not matter. Even if nature is indifferent to producing intelligence, SETI might still succeed. Biological intelligence may be rare, but it has the potential for creating engineered synthetic intelligence, capable of rapid and directed self-evolution. The galaxy could be rife with such long-lived, communicating devices, even if intelligent protoplasm is both rare and fleeting. SETI is looking for narrow-band, microwave signals that are not produced naturally. Ultimately, SETI is more exploration than experimentation.
Shostak
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S
The SETI Institute, Mountain View, California 94043, USA. seth@seti.org
D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D018559:Exobiology; D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D006801:Humans