re: Bets on future planetary detections
Hey Phil,
Here's my bets:
1. Identification of a potentially habitable zone Earth-mass planet around another star. Mass ~0.3-2.0 Earths (arbitrary).
2008
2. Detection of a life-bearing planet.
2016
3. Detection of an extraterrestrial intelligence.
Now that depends on the definition of "intelligence." If you mean intelligent like a dolphin:
I would say by 2080.
If you mean intelligent as humans were around say the bronze age,
maybe the year 2525 (if man is still alive).