I think the intelligence part of the discussion is science fiction. Intelligence only lets us know whether or not we can do things, not whether we should do th

I think the intelligence part of the discussion is science fiction. Intelligence only lets us know whether or not we can do things, not whether we should do things when it comes to matters of morality. Intelligence tells us how to capture the dolphin and keep it captive not whether what we are doing is right. Intelligence tells us how to exploit other people not whether it is right. I think you are spot on that accepting other life on this planet is a prerequisite to accepting life on other planets (I think this is illustrated beautifully in District 9, BTW), but intelligence has got nothing to do with it. It takes a great amount of intelligence to mobilize a genocide effort but you would need to ignore some of our universally accepted morals. For a person or species that possesses great intelligence but little wisdom, empathy, and other attributes that enables us to do what is "right" self-preservation and exploitation is likely the default.