Profile: Chris Stanley

Personal background
I'm 18 years old, and I'm a first-year physics student at the University of Oxford in England. When I'm not at university I live in Lincolnshire.
The things currently sucking up what little spare time I have are astronomy and tinkering with my website.
I've loved astronomy and space for as long as I can remember, and I finally got my own telescope in August 2000. Nothing special, a 41/2 inch newtonian reflector, but it's just the most incredible thing to go out at night and see so much. Next big thing is to buy a bigger 'scope, and/or move into astrophotography. I've already used this one to take some photos of the moon, but I'd like to get a bit more sophisticated and take longer exposure shots of other objects.
But my immediate goal is to get through uni.
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
Personally I do believe that extra-terrestrial life exists, and I think there's a good chance that it will be intelligent too. I hope that we will discover it within my lifetime, but I don't think anyone can predict when it will happen.
I think that if we do discover intelligent life, it will only be through signals sent from their planet, so scenarios such as that depicted in popular films are unlikely, but even so we could learn so much from another culture.
On that note though, are we ready to meet another species, when we can't agree amongst ourselves yet?

The answer to the question of whether or not to transmit a beacon, to me, is yes. If only because the cost would be so small and the potential benefits so great.

I run SETI@home to feel a part of something global, something that unites people. And also in the hope that we will discover a signal from ET. And becaue I really hate Flying Windows.
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