You might enjoy this fascinating talk by Harvard Prof. Paul Horowitz on The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (1hr 17mins)

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That was good, thanks for posting the link. It took until the last question in the Q&A for SETI@Home to get mentioned, though. ;~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

That was good, thanks for posting the link. It took until the last question in the Q&A for SETI@Home to get mentioned, though. ;~)

Yes, that made me wince a bit too

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Yes, and the questioner seemed in real doubt that SETI@Home even still existed! Hmmm.

I question his number of stars within 1000 lightyears of Earth and most assuredly the prevalence of "Earth-like " planets. To my mind we have not yet found a one.--What do we need to see to really say "Earth-like"

My definition would be along the lines:
Star of similar size and age to the sun
Rocky
Diameter between 0.75 and 1.5 earth
Orbit 0.8-1.2 compared to earth.


Some of those a probably a bit "tight", but its a starter for ten...

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

This is a good starter set. I would add a nearly circular orbit and the presence of water. We could then look and see if these candidates possessed about another dozen parameters as well. My point is that you cannot select one in-range parameter and call it an "Earth-like" planet while ignoring another important dozen or more necessary conditions to be truly "Earth-like"

For our starter set--I don't think that we have as yet found a single one. They are probably out there but we need better surveillance capability.

The conditions I set out would allow for free liquid water, and give a fair chance of there being a reasonable atmosphere for things to happen in.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?