I am a retired software developer and I live near Chicago, IL with my family. Besides computers I enjoy art, amateur astronomy, gardening and auto repair.
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
I certainly think extraterrestrial life exists. We could discover it next week or in 1000 years. We could also have missed each other by millions or even billions of years.
I think transmitting a beacon for others to find is far too trusting. We don't really know what alien beings are all about. Of course once our TV signals reach them and they catch The Three Stooges or the Gong Show they may decide to completely eradicate us.
I like running SETI because it is something that should be done. If there are extraterrestrials out there we could learn something about them - or ourselves. I think an actual discovery would have a huge impact on the human race once it has time to sink in.
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.
