April 2008

This week’s question concerns predicting intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. In a recent paper published in the journal Astrobiology, Professor Andrew Watson of the University of East Anglia describes a mathematical model for the evolution of intelligent life. He asserts that four major evolutionary steps were required before intelligent life developed on Earth, starting from the emergence of single-celled life to the development of human language. Watson asserts that the overall likelihood of intelligent life hinges on the probability of each step occurring, which is very low. What do you think? Can scientists establish an accurate method to predict the presence of intelligent life in the universe? Yes or no?

Vote here.