The Importance of One Other Example
We have evidence for one intelligent civilization in the galaxy. The discovery of just one other would
be decisive. The chance of finding another communicative civilization is
almost zero unless the galaxy is teeming with life. Thus, such a discovery would imply that
the number of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy is large.
As the late Carl Sagan often emphasized, it would tell us something else important: it would imply that
it is possible for technical civilizations to survive the introduction of technology.
Since technical civilizations such as our own have the ability to destroy themselves, this would be an
important discovery.