Odds of intelligent life occuring?

[The Valkyrie]

Iggy, I hope you're not referring to humans as the intelligent species?

[I_am_not_mafia]

Humans are not the only forms of intelligence. We are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of intelligent species.

I don't even consider humans to be the highest form of life on this planet any more. I consider corporations to be instead.

Hundreds of thousands... 

Oh, brother, I can guess where you're going with this.

Insects, fish, mammals, birds, all exhibit intelligence. Not human level intelligence but intelligence nonetheless.

[Minimalist]

Chances for intelligent life to happen? So far, 100%.

Um, you're forgetting creatards and republicunts.  That reduces the percentage considerbly.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hundreds of thousands... 

Oh, brother, I can guess where you're going with this.

Insects, fish, mammals, birds, all exhibit intelligence. Not human level intelligence but intelligence nonetheless.

Let's say "tool using/creating creature who effectively communicate with each other." Or we can dumb it down as much as you like.

[Fireball]

Insects, fish, mammals, birds, all exhibit intelligence. Not human level intelligence but intelligence nonetheless.

Let's say "tool using/creating creature who effectively communicate with each other." Or we can dumb it down as much as you like.

I know people with the attention span of a goldfish, too. So, it goes both ways.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Let's say "tool using/creating creature who effectively communicate with each other." Or we can dumb it down as much as you like.

I know people with the attention span of a goldfish, too. So, it goes both ways.

Yeah, and I don't count them among the intelligent. I'm smart enough to have survived my childhood, something those who know the full details tell me was extremely unlikely. I was smarter than the opposition, and that counted in the end.

[bennyboy]

I'd say wherever evolution can occur, if the resources and environment are complex enough, intelligence must eventually also occur.  Intelligence just means high-order processing, and this is clearly linear rather than punctuated-- i.e. there's no critical mass at which pop! intelligence pops into the system.

I suspect that to a highly intelligent species, we may not be all that, after all.  We are pretty biased.

Why "must"? What requirement in nature is there for a human-equivalent?

Given that there is enough "stick" in the materials present in an environment, i.e. that there is the capacity for some patterns to persist and others not to, then greater complexity will allow for greater differentiation.  You aren't going to get complex evolutionary responses to very simple environments; you will, eventually, much more likely get complex responses to very complex environments. AND as more lifeforms evolve and enter into competition with each other, they will increase that environmental complexity, thereby allowing even greater complexity.

And nobody said anything about human-equivalent.

---

How many species have there been through time? Including the extinct., insects, etc.
100 million? More?
And only one evolved intelligence. I wouldn't exactly call that a sample of 1 of 1.
Divide those m class planets out there by 100 million to get the true odds.

There's about (counts on fingers) ok, a lot!

lolwut?

ALL species have evolved intelligence.  They process their environments and generate a huge range of behavioral responses.

---

The question is, did it happen elsewhere? We simply can't say.

Yeah, that's what "odds" means.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Too much wishful thinking.

[ignoramus]

My meaninful definition of intelligence is to have the ability to pass on knowledge to future generations to build upon.

I'm sure there's nice rainbow coloured slugs and t-rex eating plants out there but they don't respond well to seti or ensuring their survival via artificial means.
They're basically philosophical driftwood going where nature takes them. Usually to doomsville.

[AFTT47]

Yes ignoramus, we are the only species on the planet which advances. My definition also. Even if whales or dolphins are our intellectual equal (which I highly doubt), there is no advancement in knowledge from one generation to the next. A dolphin pod today has nothing on a dolphin pod from 1000 years ago.