Humans have existed only for the last 0.001 percent of cosmic time. All of which says that - unless the Homo sapiens brain is the one-and-only instance of cogitating machinery - nearly all the intelligence that's out there is beyond our level. And that intelligence is more than just a little bit beyond.

In this quote, Seth Shostak reflects on the relatively brief existence of humans in the context of the vast timeline of the cosmos. He notes that humans have only existed for a mere 0.001 percent of the total cosmic time, highlighting how insignificant our time on Earth is when compared to the age of the universe. This perspective puts our existence into a much larger context, suggesting that human intelligence may be just a small fraction of what could exist in the universe.

Shostak then argues that if the Homo sapiens brain is not the only instance of cogitating machinery in the cosmos, there is likely far more intelligence out there. He suggests that much of this intelligence is probably beyond our level, far surpassing our current cognitive capabilities. This implies that, while we consider ourselves highly intelligent, the universe may harbor advanced civilizations with intellectual abilities far superior to ours.

The quote emphasizes that the intelligence out there is not just slightly more advanced but significantly beyond what humans are capable of. This serves as a humbling reminder that our current understanding of intelligence and technology may be very limited compared to what other, potentially much older, civilizations have achieved. It opens the possibility of advanced life forms existing across the cosmos, whose knowledge and abilities we can scarcely comprehend.

Ultimately, Shostak’s statement challenges the assumption that human intelligence is the pinnacle of cognitive evolution. It invites us to consider that, given the immense age of the universe, there may be civilizations with intelligence that is not just marginally advanced but fundamentally different and much more evolved than our own. This reinforces the idea that the universe could be home to a far greater variety of intelligence than we currently know.