SETI public: Does Evolution Lead to Higher Intelligence?

Revisiting the Science of The Planet of the Apes:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Revisiting_The_Science_Behind_Planet_Of_The_Apes_999.html

NOTE: I am mentioning Rod Serling next because he wrote the initial
screenplay for the original (and best) Planet of the Apes film from
1968. Even though Hollywood brought in someone else to change
parts of the script and "lighten" the tone, Serling's "spirit" is still
there and it permeates all of POTA's sequels and spinoffs.

I respect the heck out of Rod Serling as a writer and a man
who did his best to bring quality and intelligence to a medium
that has so often failed in that regard.

However, he was never one to be particularly concerned about
scientific accuracy. Note episodes of The Twilight Zone, such as
one where Earth is just 11 million miles from a planet in another
solar system, or that a group of astronauts who crash land on
what turns out to be Earth think they are on a planetoid, even
though the sky is blue, they can breathe the air, and the gravity
feels the same. Any decent astronomer knew there were no such
places besides Earth in the Sol system in the early 1960s, not
even Mars.

As I said, this does not take away from the fact that Serling was
a great writer, he just didn't focus his efforts on being the most
scientifically accurate with his stories.

This being said, I don't think using POTA as an example to drive home
the point being made by Lineweaver about intelligence popping up
more than once on a planet was the best, though of course since so
many people recognize POTA and what it is about, maybe it was not
such an entirely wrong idea after all.

But still, note that Serling has apes arising to intelligence and a
civilized
society just a few thousand years after humanity nukes itself into
scattered tribes of brutes. Plus the landscape of the US East Coast
is radically altered by the same event in the same time. Again, Serling
was trying to make some social and politcal points, not represent an
accurate portrayl of what things would look and be like several millennia
after a nuclear war.

I am also including these quotes from the main article, as I like
what Dr. Lineweaver has to say on SETI et al. The man even
admits he might be wrong!

AM: Do you see intelligence as a one-time accident of evolution?

CL: No, I think every species has its own type of intelligence. We have
ours, elephants have theirs, dolphins have theirs. The type of intelligence
they have is the type that has evolved in their quirky environment with all
the genetic baggage that they have. To the extent that it's like ours is due
to our shared ancestry. The idea that intelligence is a generic thing, and
therefore others in outer space will have it too is just crazy, and it's
wrong. There is no evidence for it on Earth, there's a lot of evidence
against it, and as scientists I think we have to accept that.

AM: Yet you've said you support SETI, even though you think there's no
chance of finding human-like intelligence elsewhere.

CL: The reason I support SETI is because I'm a scientist, and scientists
look in places that haven't been looked in before. That is what SETI is
doing. They're developing new instruments and new frequency ranges to look
at astronomical objects in ways that have not been done before. That is the
most powerful tool to discover something new in the universe.

I also support SETI because it inspires people. I think a lot of it is
motivated for the wrong reasons, but so what? If people are motivated to
find extraterrestrials, I think that's great. Give them a thousand dollars
to build an instrument. The scientific exploration of the universe is a
general goal that I think all scientists share. Also, I support SETI because
maybe I'm wrong about this. People are wrong sometimes.

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