h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If we found life on a planet other than this one, what would we do? Would we oggle it untill it went mad? Would we eat it because it did not yet speak? would we regard it as too primative to one day be the inteligence that we are looking for?
Had extra terrestials came here 1 000 000 years ago and eaten the existing homo sapiens we would not be here. Had this planet been totaly covered with water, whales would have been the dominant inteligence. Whales have not developed technology like their terrestial counter parts,(but they will) but, like us are trying to find and comunicate with other inteligent life forms. From earlier experiments we should realise that whales are friendly beings trying to communicate and therefor deserve our respect,that does not mean spelt with capitol letters on the menu