(Since this is a hypothetical I’m going to put this here and not GD but if a mod sees fit to move it; then please do.)
First, do you believe in the possibilty of a higher lifeform (refering to us humans)
If so, what would make said lifeform “Higher”?
Does a lifeform’s ability to love or it’s benevolence (or non-benevolence) have anything to do with it?
/passes the hypothetical bong. (kidding)
Being able to post on the SDMB.
Mold… at 30,000 feet.
What? 
Probably not. They could be a hive-mind like ants (pure instinct, no individuality) or they could be giant squishy fishes who deposit their eggs in the stream and forget 'em. Or they could be individual spirit beings, devoted either to guiding and protecting us mortals, or devouring human souls.
Heh. Get some good Indica, and you’ll be asking questions like: “Does God have a bellybutton?”
Hmm…do you mean “higher” as in “human level” or higher as in “above human level”?
For an early guess, I’d say it’s like porn; you know it when you see it.
Well, it’s the mind that make us more than animals; I’ll say a higher being would be some creature all of whose mental faculties are superior to genius-level humans. Benevolence has nothing to do with it.
Higher life forms than us humans, yes there are plenty, just look at the giraffe
Someone one toke ahead of me?
I watched a thing on PBS a few months back about discovering intelligent extra terrestrial life.
One point they were trying to make was that something could be intelligent but in a way that we couldn’t even comprehend.
By way of example, they talked about, IIRC, the cuttlefish. An octopus-looking motherfucker who can almost instantly change the color and shape of his skin to match the colors/textures of his environment – changing the surface of skin to create three-dimensional deception. They put him in a tank with a checkerboared pattern on the bottom, and he was able to make a white-square on his back to match it.
Basically, they were saying that he’s exhibiting an intelligence (creating 3D surfaces and color maps) that we couldn’t even begin to communicate with, but that is intelligent.
I don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for, but it is a tricky question.
This is me agreeing with a consensus. Even if we found higher life on this planet, we’d classify it as “lower” until it dazzled us with something that completely stole our cookies*.
*I’ve got NO clue what that’s supposed to mean.