"As with Mars, so also with extrasolar worlds. The evidence will come very slowly, in fits and starts. It will be mostly ambiguous and hard to confirm. It wouldn't surprise me if it takes a thousand years or more for humans to learn the answer to the question of ET life to their own satisfaction."

Hi DA,

Thanks for the thoughtful return post... ;-)

You're right...a thousand years may be the timetable we are working within. Humanity and progress seem to go slower and slower, the older one gets. Technology moves ahead,
but man himself - he is the slowest of all to progress.

When one is a teen - a decade is forever. By the time on gets older - suddenly a decade is pretty quick...and a century doesn't really seem that long anymore.;-)

The government can keep secrets. Heck, I know some ex-intelligence type folks who wont talk old govt. secrets - and some have been out of the government for almost forty years!

'The government is moronic' belief doesn't hold true throughout the body of govt. - only certain parts ;-)

We will have to wait and see....about ET. But If asked, I would place my bets with Lloyds of London in favor of ETI someday coming calling.

Best wishes,

SDAI-Tech1