Billyuns of Planets

When I took an astronomy course, there was some discussion about whether other star systems had planets. Nobody knew back then, and there was not some little speculation that planets were rarities.

How wrong that was. It seems that as the instruments get better, everywhere the astronomers look, they're finding planets.

They haven't detected life, but I would hazard a guess that's because the instruments are good enough, at this time, to find signs of life. It might be kind of like trying to read the fine print on a contract that somebody is holding up in front of a searchlight.

Then comes the question of intelligent life. We don't know where our planet stands on that spectrum. Are the odds of intelligent life developing so low that we may be unique? Or is it so common or different that we've been fenced off for being the galactic retards?

I suspect that we'll eventually find out.