Does intelligent life mean only human-level intelligence? If we found a bunch of chimp-like animals running around, would that count as intelligent life?
Sure, but our interactions with chimp-like intelligence on another planet are unlikely to be substantially different from our interactions with chimp-like intelligence on this planet. It only gets interesting when both are more or less evenly matched, and that is extremely unlikely.
And our interactions with same-level intelligence on another planet are unlikely to be substantially different from our interactions with same-level intelligence on this planet. We've seen this before when people from one continent encountered those from another. In fiction, we show (via projection) how we might treat other intelligent life forms (every accusation is a confession).
