Profile: Philip Lidster

Personal background
I live in Wolverhampton, England with my wife, 3 sons and a collie dog. I work for Birmingham City Council, the UK's largest local authority, as a Management Development Consultant. My main hobby is growing my own fruit and vegetables in my little plot of land.

I've been interested in science for as long as I can remember - even before I went to school. As soon as I learned to read I was trying to understand books on astronomy.
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
I'm sure there is extraterrestrial life. Isn't it human arrogance to believe that there is something unique about our little heap of stardust?

I wish we would transmit a beacon. But there could be a danger in establishing communication with extraterrestrial life. We might learn things that would shake us out of our present understanding of the universe and the meaning of life. Knowledge can be dangerous. However, I would be prepared to accept that risk - even welcome it.

What should we transmit? How about some DNA code? Let the others know what kind of life we have on Planet Earth.

But will we ever find life elsewhere? I've seen a great comet and I've seen a total solar eclipse. I've seen my sons born and I've seen my parents die. All these were deeply meaningful experiences. But before I die, I want to see contact with extraterrestrial life. I'm 52 years old, so I don't have a lot of time. So you can see why I decided to participate in SETI, which is a superb example of ordinary individuals across the world joining in a great quest. Indeed, it might prove to be the greatest quest of all time.
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