....words fail me in trying to express how much more optimistic I am after reading many of these posts. Human beings are not only intelligent, but they define intelligence and that eliminates even the most remote possibility that our intelligence might in actuality be a pseudo-intelligence. That other intelligent entities beyond our ability to even conceive could exist. I had visions of a 1.5 meter X 2.25 meter pulsating snowflake that communicated by thought transference and had come into existence almost simultaneously with the birth of the Universe. I also envisioned asking Visitor Sf what were some of the basics in defining intelligent life On Planet Snowball:
1) the ability to learn from the past
2) the ability to behave collectively in ways that ensure long term survival
3) to have learned to avoid self-destruction
4) the ability to anticipate and avoid natural disasters
5) the ability to intentionally and thoughtfully alter its environment and live
sustainably within it
6) the ability to not only produce exceptional individuals, but for the species
as a whole to move 'forward'
I smiled and said thanks, and then explained how Earthlings define intelligence, primarily through technology, and I was grateful to be able to enlighten a fellow member of the Universe and I know Sf was glad too...... :blink:

"With human intellect, the whole seems to be less than the sum of the parts." D. Grinspoon