[gorgoiler]

I once heard a similar point and it has fascinated me ever since: an alien observing human culture would be appalled at how dangerous our lives are.

Everything around us is bathed in warm oxygen, just waiting to catch fire! Our homes, our clothes, our fields, our possessions, …our hair. Ready oxidation brings vitality to Earth but it’s also ridiculously dangerous.

[brazzy]

It's very unlikely the aliens would not have something very similar going on in their own biosphere. Life needs energy to operate, after all.

[Terr_]

It might be a lot more sedate, imagine crystalline creatures from deep below the surface of an ice-ball that rely on indirect chemical gradients or geothermal.

"Your planet is how close to that star!? H20 would be liquid! How do you protect yourselves from the polar solvent leaking down into the rock?"

[wahern]

Conversely, a slower rate of reactivity suggests intelligent life might not yet have arisen in such environments, or ever arise before the opportunity passes.

[meindnoch]

They need a sufficiently dense energy source, sure. But it may not involve their atmosphere at all. Their plants could store solar energy in self-contained chemical batteries, and the aliens could be using those batteries to power their bodies. Instead of having to constantly breathe, they would instead need a daily battery swap.