Odds of intelligent life occuring?

[Anomalocaris]

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.

Correction. We are the only specie that has shown notable advance during perhaps 5% of its existence. So if there are currently 20 specie as capable of advancing as we are on this earth, still statistically only one would have already demonstrated this capability

[Jehanne]

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.

I'd agree with you but would just like to add that the increasing complexity of the environment and the development of intelligence would drive one another.

As intelligence is a wonderful aide to survival, how could it not evolve in a world governed by natural selection, which must occur wherever there is life?

[The Grand Nudger]

Whales and dolphins exhibit learned and socially transmitted behaviors.  Most pronounced, are their hunting strategies.  They aren't born with them, they learn them..and they differ pod to pod.  Even the language appears to differ group to group.  

I'm not sure that there's anyone on earth who can establish that we aren't philosophical driftwood, or, assuming we aren't, that this is meaningfully different from the way that any other animal isn't philosophical driftwood either.  It's usually the "simpler" shit that persists, in any case.  The "philosophical driftwood" has a much better track record than the things we consider their betters on a self serving scale.

[Anomalocaris]

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!

There always has to be a first intelligent specie in any given self-contained biosphere that contains intelligent species. When the first intelligent specie arise, there will always be exactly one intelligent specie in all of that biosphere's history.

So the fact that we are the first does not imply there can't be many more.

In fact the fact that we elected trump suggest we will vacate the stage to make room for other intelligent specie to arise.

[AFTT47]

Do you see any good candidates, Anomalocaris? I sure don't. Not short-term, anyway.

[ignoramus]

I'd agree with you but would just like to add that the increasing complexity of the environment and the development of intelligence would drive one another.

As intelligence is a wonderful aide to survival, how could it not evolve in a world governed by natural selection, which must occur wherever there is life?

But why only 1?
I'd love nothing more than to ask my cat why he bites the fuck out of me when he's happy?

I think it's just pot luck. Mutations at the right time on the right species. Just a mutation. That's our claim to fame. And we took advantage of it naturally.

[Anomalocaris]

Do you see any good candidates, Anomalocaris? I sure don't. Not short-term, anyway.

The gap in time between when the last hominid ancestor showed no particular indication whatsoever of being on a particularly favorable path to our ideal of technological intelligence and Sputnik is as short as 3 million years, but charitable 10-15 million years.

So my guess is if humans are wiped out, a different intelligent technic civilization based on the chimpanzee can arise in as little as 3 million years, while other species of ape current existent can give birth to specie with a capacity to,destroy itself using means comparable to electing a trump in 10-15 million years.

[bennyboy]

Person #1: Why aren't there more intelligent species?
Person #2: What do you mean by "intelligent"?
Person #1: You know. . . thinking like people, cuz like how awesome we are.

[The Valkyrie]

As intelligence is a wonderful aide to survival, how could it not evolve in a world governed by natural selection, which must occur wherever there is life?

But why only 1?
I'd love nothing more than to ask my cat why he bites the fuck out of me when he's happy?

I think it's just pot luck. Mutations at the right time on the right species. Just a mutation. That's our claim to fame. And we took advantage of it naturally.

One of my beasts does that.

Purring and chirping loudly and then gives me a bite, usually on the legs).

[Minimalist]