Editing Extraterrestrial intelligence (section)

{{Short description| Hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life}}
{{Distinguish|Extraterrestrials in fiction}}
'''Extraterrestrial intelligence''' ('''ETI''') refers to hypothetical [[intelligence|intelligent]] [[extraterrestrial life]]. No such life has ever been verifiably observed to exist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bennett |first=Jeffrey |title=Life in the universe |date=2017 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-0-13-408908-9 |location=United States |page=3-4}}</ref> The question of whether other inhabited worlds might exist has been debated since [[ancient history]].<ref>Plurality of Worlds: The Extraterrestrial life Debate from Democritus to Kant, by Steven Dick, Cambridge University Press 1984</ref> The modern form of the concept emerged when the [[Copernican Revolution]] demonstrated that the Earth was a planet revolving around the Sun, and other planets were, conversely, other worlds.<ref>The Extraterrestrial Life Debate: 1750-1900, by Michael J. Crowe, Dover Publications, 2011</ref> The question of whether other inhabited planets or moons exist was a natural consequence of this new understanding. It has become one of the most speculative questions in science and is a central theme of both [[science fiction]] and [[popular culture]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Spinks |first=Peter |date=May 21, 2013 |title=Are we alone? |url=http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/are-we-alone-20130520-2jx69.html |url-access=subscription |work=[[SMH.com.au]]}}</ref>

An alternative name for it is "Extraterrestrial Technological Instantiations" (ETI). The term was coined to avoid the use of terms such as "civilizations", "species", and "intelligence", as those may prove to be ambiguous and open to interpretation, or simply inapplicable in its local context.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Keith Cooper |date=August 20, 2024 |title=Are we alone? Intelligent aliens may be rare, new study suggests |url=https://www.space.com/intelligent-alien-life-rare-drake-equation-research |access-date=September 9, 2024 |publisher=[[Space.com]]}}</ref>