Are alien civilisations smarter than humans?

If planetary scientist Dr Nathalie Cabrol of the Seti Institute in California is right and advanced alien civilisations are trying to establish contact that earthlings are too backward to understand, the implications are grave. For, her contention punctures our perception that humans are the universe’s supreme creatures. Could it really be that we are not smart enough yet to figure out messages coming to us from outer space? Are confounded clever aliens at the other end of the universe puzzling over the lack of response from a planet that looks likely to host life? And here we are, thinking that our (possibly amateurish) attempts to reach out to extraterrestrials are going unanswered because we are either alone in the universe or the other life forms are simply not developed enough to reply to our signals. The truth could be the other way round.

That begs the other question that remains inadequately answered: what happens if aliens do answer back — and we understand them? Worse still, what happens if we leave the more advanced aliens underwhelmed at the idea of engaging with us backward humans beyond the perfunctory metaphorical intergalactic handshake? That these issues are hardly discussed suggests we may secretly be hoping that no one answers our call in the cosmic wilderness