Day job: Tech writer for Cisco Systems

I guess this is just color for my SETI thoughts that appear below, so that's about it.

It seems obvious that if there is intelligent life out there, then some (probably most) would be far more advanced than we are. They would, at the very least, pay attention to lifeforms that are uplifting themselves (or who have been uplifted, ala David Brin's novels). Part of intelligence is curiousity. If they've got the I of ETI, then they'd be curious. IMHO, the best way to pay attention would be to send out signals directed to likely star systems and wait for responses. Primitive intelligences (like ours) don't have the wealth to advertise our existence properly unless we're responding to a signal. So they have to send a signal.

So, why haven't we seen a signal? Either there is no intelligent life out there (Argh! Finding ETIs would be indescribably cool), or, more likely, our sun is just so far in the boonies that it's not worth anyone sending us a signal (Double Argh!!).

Another possibility, though, is SF writer Vernor Vinge's scenario. He postulates that intelligent beings rapidly advance to a stage whereby they remove themselves from the physical universe we perceive. So, perhaps that's my answer: maybe there are ETIs, but they've gotten so advanced that they exist in a plane beyond our comprehension. In other words, all the ETIs advance to a new door, they enter it, and then they close it behind them. One day we will, too.

Oh well. It's interesting to contemplate, but we'll probably never know, though I hope we will.