[quote=Portlock]Does anyone think that if humans hadn’t developed agriculture which started us on the rise to civilization, that a pristine planet might have eventually given rise to a second sentient earth species? Besides us monkeys? Should I put my wine down?[/quote]

It still might. Who’s to say what might happen over the next million or billion years. Modern humans have only been around for a tiny fraction of the Earth’s “life” period. If a virus or a meteor comes along or we do something stupid any time in the next million years, we’ll still have only been here for a small fraction of the time life has been on Earth. Any thing could happen after that. Even if we stick around for that long, who’s to say some other species couldn’t evolve to be as smart as us (or smarter) right along side us?

No wine here. Heck, I drink wine to escape thoughts like these.