To a lot of people, the hope would be that they'd come here, help solve all of our problems, and tell us all the secrets of the universe that we haven't' figured out to boot.

As some other famous scientists have suggested, if we find them we ought to do everything we can to not let them find out about us now. We're only about 100 years past bleeding people as a cure for many diseases.

Likely, I think evolutionary principals are not unique to earth. I don't see why it wouldn't work exactly the same in most other places in the universe. I can think of some unique examples, but....unlikely ones.

Even if they don't have mean intent - I listened to a TED talk, that talked about pretty much every time a more sophisticated people has been around a less sophisticated one, even when every effort was made to try to make sure the less sophisticated wasn't harmed - they were.

What I'd like to know is.......I've donated a lot of CPU time towards SETI. What I'd like to know - Lets say we find an intelligent ET life form. Am I going to have helped the destruction of my species? What's the game plan? Without one, I'm not sure I should continue to contribute to this, given what we put on the voyager space craft........I'd hope we're more enlightened now, but I don't know. Anybody have any ideas? I doubt this would go to a world vote.

So, what would happen if SETI found an extra-terrestrial signal? To be honest, not much. We can't go there, we can't communicate with them, not for many years anyway. However, at least we would know that life elsewhere is possible.

Maybe unfortunately, we would most likely try to establish some form of communication, since, more than anything else, we are a curious species. I doubt that we could let it rest without at least trying to muck some other civilization up.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

at least we would know that life elsewhere is possible

Exactly! Then we can say with great certainty "we are not alone!"

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rOZZ
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I've donated a lot of CPU time towards SETI. What I'd like to know - Lets say we find an intelligent ET life form. Am I going to have helped the destruction of my species? What's the game plan? Without one, I'm not sure I should continue to contribute to this, given what we put on the voyager space craft........I'd hope we're more enlightened now, but I don't know. Anybody have any ideas? I doubt this would go to a world vote.

Hi Qaz :)

Well - knowing how little we've learned from our own mistakes, and our penchant for repeating some of the worst ones over and over again - I think we'll be contributing to our own destruction long before any alien species even gets a look in :) (not sure why I put a smiley there - ah well - one of those days obviously)

I think knowing we are not alone in the universe would actually be the most enlightening thing we could learn as a species. I'm not sure all of us on the planet would take too well to it though - and were an alien species to ever pop in on us unexpectedly following such a revelation - I'd be more worried for them to be honest. But that's just my opinion :) Love the thread by the way! :)

I'd be more worried for them to be honest. But that's just my opinion :)

If they saw the average Politics poster they'd be on warp 9 back home!!

I post in politics :) I'd recommend a much higher warp factor than 9... :)

IF, and that is a big if, we find a signal it will be from many light years in the past. Then if we answer by the time they receive our signal we will be many light years in the past.

I must pose this question. What is intelligent life? I assume by intelligent we mean the human chauvinistic view of intelligence. If we find a single cell bacteria out there that would be as good as finding these guys.

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IF, and that is a big if, we find a signal it will be from many light years in the past. Then if we answer by the time they receive our signal we will be many light years in the past.

I must pose this question. What is intelligent life? I assume by intelligent we mean the human chauvinistic view of intelligence. If we find a single cell bacteria out there that would be as good as finding these guys.

+1

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

I'd be more worried for them to be honest. But that's just my opinion :)

If they saw the average Politics poster they'd be on warp 9 back home!!

However, if they spot the pseudo-scientists on this board, they'd make damn sure they went at warp 10!

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I'd be more worried for them to be honest. But that's just my opinion :)

If they saw the average Politics poster they'd be on warp 9 back home!!

However, if they spot the pseudo-scientists on this board, they'd make damn sure they went at warp 10!

I don't think a lot of 'real' scientists post here, you have some, like Brandon, our evolutionary biologist! But 'pseudo' scientists, yep, we must have them too:)

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

IF, and that is a big if, we find a signal it will be from many light years in the past. Then if we answer by the time they receive our signal we will be many light years in the past.

I must pose this question. What is intelligent life? I assume by intelligent we mean the human chauvinistic view of intelligence. If we find a single cell bacteria out there that would be as good as finding these guys.

+1

+2 definitely :)

I don't think bacteria are doing anything that'd let us detect them? Maybe that's a little human-centric - just is astropulse or detecting radio signals likely to pickup bacteria from many light years away, even if they communicate by like transmitting in the radio wave spectrum?

I just saw a ted talk on bacteria communicating on earth, and they all absolutely do. Just.....not in a means detectable by anything like SETI@home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXWurAmtf78

But lets say they used signals in the AM radio spectrum. What's the likelihood something like that could transmit a signal that would even make it through even a small atmosphere? That'd be wasted energy.

I don't think bacteria are doing anything that'd let us detect them?

What I mean is if we find a single cell organism or even a virus out there it would change human philosophy. Life is life whether it is intelligent or not is subjective.

I would say if we knew there was single cell life out there we would look at the universe very differently. Then intelligent life would not be a surprise, it would be expected.

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I don't know about you guys but I'd put on my aluminum foil hat so the ETs couldn't use their mind control beams on me! :0

I don't know about you guys but I'd put on my aluminum foil hat so the ETs couldn't use their mind control beams on me! :0

Wearing mine now... just in case they sneak up on us. :)

What I'd like to know is.......I've donated a lot of CPU time towards SETI. What I'd like to know - Lets say we find an intelligent ET life form. Am I going to have helped the destruction of my species? What's the game plan? Without one, I'm not sure I should continue to contribute to this, given what we put on the voyager space craft........I'd hope we're more enlightened now, but I don't know. Anybody have any ideas? I doubt this would go to a world vote.

We are already sending messages out there, so it's too late for that :P

Let's clear some things up

1. SETI is scanning the EM Spectrum in a narrow specific area. That EM radiation we are scanning has traveled countless light years to reach our receivers. That means anything ET we discover is in the past depending on the source likely many many years in the past and the originators have moved on in time to our present.

2. We are currently stuck in a reply methodology of EM radiation. So even an ET discovery would not be able to be replied to in less than once again the time in light years a propagated reply signal would have to travel to the point of origin of an ET transmission. So we can relax as the time it takes for a signal to get there is less likely to be time coincident with the technology that originally generated the discovered ET signal.

Our own technological progress in less that 200 years should give you some comfort. We've gone from broad band AM spark transmission, to narrow AM, FM, and now digital transmission of high complexity in modulations, frequency, and signal direction. We already employ laser light in huge applications and we are exploring all manner of other means to include particle emissions etc. We can modulate light throughout the spectrum, generate coherent light, IR, X-Ray, and Radiations such as Gamma, etc. All can be employed to convey communications. As time marches on how will we be communicating in say 200 years?

The issue raised is that in addition to looking for ET in the SETI radio spectrum (and within modulation techniques we understand) there is the issue of time coincidence where our listening with an appropriate receiver and technology takes place at the time the ET "signal" or emanation bathes our receiver and planet.

Our chances are slim, but we have a vast universe to listen to and countless billions upon billions of possible sources.

If we ever do decipher a ET source. Rest assured it likely will have originated far beyond our immediate neighbors, perhaps even in a far away galaxy where our ability to discern a radial aperature would be next to impossible.

So let's not forget to travel from there to here would take technology and energy control we have not yet even conceived of or invented...

Sleep well, keep pluggin away, who knows, we may get lucky...

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Never engage stupid people at their level, they then have the home court advantage.....