Oxford language has intelligence as: 'the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.' Wikipedia says: 'Biological material may refer to: Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, or is composed of organic compounds' Of course, both 'intelligence' and 'life' are words that are difficult to put a pin down. But most people imagine their 'intelligence' as being a separate entity from the body itself.(I'm not one of those, though I often wish I was) It is debated whether a virus is 'alive' but it certainly seems to exhibit something like intelligence. Most of the debate in the comments refers to AI, which may someday be something like intelligent, but will continue to not be biological. I find the story amusing because it illuminates the limits of our understanding when we're fettered by presuppositions, and reminds us that, at the end of the day, all of our 'objective science' is colored by the inevitable prejudices that come from our biological perspective. Just because we lack the imagination to visualize intelligence without life, doesn't mean that it's impossible. The alien accepting the report is baffled and confused because IT can't believe that intelligence DOES exist in biological matter.