[Jerome]

The question of whether there is or is not intelligent life out there is completely arbitrary, and is as much a matter of faith as any religion is.

If you're asking, does the probability exist, then the answer is most definately yes. The reasons for the probability being so low are the conditions set up for cellular life to exist, as Vaskez posted previously. The essential truth of the matter is, however, no one knows, nor can know for a great many years to come. Just given the time needed for a single radio message to be transmitted (even at light speed, the physical limit in this universe for anything)it could take literally hundrerds, if not thousands of years to reach any kind of civillisation with the technology to recieve, process and send a return signal, and then the same amount of time for the return journey.

Ditto with the ideas behind UFO's already having visited us. The amount of time, resources and technology that would permit a vehicle to travel the cast interstellar distances to reach us (and we'll ignore all the socialogical problems which could be attached to any race's society undertaking such endevours) would be phenomenal - especially if their only purpose was the probing of attention-hungry people who seem to be abducted on a regular basis.

But perhaps i'm being to pessimistic. Do I believe there's intelligent life out there? I admit the probability exists, but I see no reason to acknowledge any kind of life out there. In any case, to my mind, there's no evidence or circumstancial facts to debate over, and while it's an amusing topic for speculation... in the end, it's down to belief and little more.