intelligent

A six-panel SMBC comic. A man stands in a dim landscape talking to God, whose voice comes from large speech bubbles descending from above. Panel 1: The man asks, "God, why haven't we found other intelligent life?" God answers, "Only one sapient species per universe. That's the rule." Panel 2: God explains, "All intelligent species bear the marks of evolution. Therefore, they'll have all the bad behaviors that come with the struggle for survival and reproduction." Panel 3: God says, "Imagine it's the 1930s. The first radio telescopes are built. You make contact with 411,729,922 civilizations." Panel 4: A close-up of the man's face as God asks, "Guess how many Hitlers have now entered your awareness." The man says "411,729,922" and God replies "Minimum." Panel 5: God continues, "So one sapient species per universe. Eventually they grow less terrible, use technology to span the cosmos, and with a minimum of unforgivable atrocities--" Panel 6: The man brightens and asks, "Wow! And how far are we from that period?" God replies, "I'm actually waiting for you guys to clear the deck so I can try again with birds." Votey (aftercomic, single panel): The man looks up in profile while God's speech bubble suggests, "Have you considered nuclear escalation? Might make for a suuuper exciting news cycle!"