Quote:
Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski
someone who feels that life started on the Earth from spontaneous generation (or whatever the alternative to creationism is- these guys say they believe in evolution, but that is another question) said he does not believe there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe; aren't those inconsistent?
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You inserted the modifier "intelligent." Is that necessary to your argument?
I anticipate (not "believe";
anticipate) that there is matter capable of self-replication elsewhere in the universe. I also anticipate that bipedal, bilaterally symmetrical carbon-based humanoids that are universally described by 20th-21st century alien encounterists starting, by some enormous coincidence, exactly during the Jet Age are utter horseshit. I anticipate our peculiar brand of intelligence is an adaptation to our environment, which is staggeringly unlikely to exist in precisely this form anywhere else. Whether there are clouds of plasma capable of what we consider consciousness is a matter of doubt, although given the vast distances necessary to get the math for infinite alternate environments, on the timescales of human civilization from inception to destruction I doubt we'll ever be in contact with any of them, or that we would ever realize it if we had.
