Authors:

Speed is what distinguishes intelligence. No bird discovers how to fly: evolution used a trillion bird-years to 'discover' that – where merely hundreds of person-years sufficed.

"Communication with Alien Intelligence". Published in "Extraterrestrials: Science and Alien Intelligence" (Edward Regis, Ed.), web.media.mit.edu. 1985.
Speed is what distinguishes intelligence. No bird discovers how to fly: evolution used a trillion bird-years to 'discover' that – where merely hundreds of person-years sufficed.