It seems you're jumping to the conclusion here that I am unfamiliar with SETI. I'm not an expert, but I am aware that it is looking for intentional beacons. And I think I've stated this in the past.

And in past posts I have argued that societies are not very likely to devote so much of their wealth/resources to such a project. Especially when the chances of success are so pathetically small. I look at what our own world is doing, and it makes perfect sense to me. The grass-roots bottom-up road to SETI, where it is scrounging around for the resources it needs and doing its search on the cheap. The rest of society continues to go about its business, assigning SETI a relatively low priority.

I don't think we are likely to build a beacon, and I don't think other societies are likely to do so either.

It's not just an issue of resources. It's also an issue of self-preservation. It is unwise to advertize our existence to other cultures until we know more about them and whether they are friendly or not.

I am glad you pointed out that we have absolutely no chance of detecting the routine broadcasts of any civilization anywhere. That point cannot be emphasized enough.

As for evolution and the production of intelligence and technology, you already know that I disagree with you on that point. But there is certainly plenty of room for disagreement.

I do believe Nick's article on SpaceDaily, 'Why We Are Alone,' made some telling points. But I don't see those as being the final word and do not agree with his conclusion that we must infer there are no other highly evolved biospheres on rocky worlds.

I suppose it comes down to a person's opinion as to whether there is more than one road evolution can take to produce a given adaptation. The biological world is replete with examples where more than one route toward the same solution has indeed been taken. Personally, I see no reason why the intelligence adaptation should be any different.

Though my view is not as black-and-white as yours, I do agree that intelligence is obviously a lot less common than basic life. And I further agree that technological civilizations are rarer still. Where I part company with your view is upon your insistence that other civilizations be located somewhere beyond the Local Group or not anywhere in the universe at all.

It seems we both agree, for completely different reasons, that the SETI effort is very unlikely to bear any fruit. But, like you, I support SETI for the same reason. To quote your closing line, 'But hey, go take a look and see if there are surprises in store...'