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Old 05-25-2008, 03:19 PM   #7
Edward64
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Quote:
Originally Posted by st.cronin View Post
What do we mean by "intelligent life," or even "life"? Not a flip question, I'm serious. I think life on earth is defined by "having working dna", right? It doesn't seem likely that standard will apply universally, so I think intelligent life is supposed to mean sentient life, which how do you know if something is sentient or not?

One of my favorite readings is from one of Kurzweil's books (forget which one) where he puts forward a convincing proof that there are planets which right now are completely inhabited by nano-technology.

Good question. Obviously a space faring race is intelligent. A race similar of cro-magnon/neanderthals would be intelligent. But what is intelligence on the low end ... not sure.

Happy with a bug frozen in Martian ice.
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