Agreed, especially when you consider that the same basic elements that make up our solar system are widespread throughout the universe. My guess is that microbi

Agreed, especially when you consider that the same basic elements that make up our solar system are widespread throughout the universe. My guess is that microbial life isn't even particularly rare in other solar systems, we just haven't evolved enough to have noticed yet. The search for intelligent life seems to be predicated on the fact that intelligence is basically the same as what homo sapiens does, circa 2020 AD. I'm sure there's a vast array of other types of intelligence out there that we can't even grasp, and thus haven't been looking for.