| Personal background |
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I originate from the now redundant coal-mining area in the south of the county of Yorkshire in England. Being on the countdown to retirement I can look back on a technical career that spans the Armed Forces, Coal Mining, Newspaper Production, and Systems Support in several manufacturing industries. I was originally an electronics engineer who got side tracked into computer systems in the early days of PCs when the MAC reigned supreme and an AT 286 was the fastest thing on the planet - well almost!
I have followed many diverse hobbies & leisure pursuites over the years but I now devote most of my spare time to digital photography and producing fine prints that rival or better its chemical counterpart. I have always had a keen interest in astronomy and perhaps it was this that influenced my children to pursue a similar path in their education and careers. Within our immediate family we have a PhD and a BSc - both in astrophysics. Little wonder then that SETI holds a fascination for me that is difficult to ignore. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I am convinced that life does exist in a microbial form at least, almost everywhere in the universe. Intelligent ET is quite another matter since we appear to be delving into the realms of the "I think, therefore I am" philosophy. Can we really be so arrogant as to think that we are the only ones in the whole universe? We have all seen this human arrogance at work. Fuelled by religious and political fervour, we have slaughtered, maimed and tortured more of our own species than any other known creature on the planet. Paradoxically the word Humanity and many of its derivatives are immediately associated with kindness, compassion and wisdom. Oh Boy!
The human race NEEDS 'Intelligent ET'. But will ET even give us a second glance? Looking at our track record this last couple of millennia I have to say that if I was ET, I would certainly err on the side of caution. Perhaps our own Hostility and Warlike nature has already decided how ET will come to us. Come to US? Well yes, because for all our achievments in space travel we really haven't scratched the surface yet.
I recently started to run SETI@Home because I need to know that there is a purpose to us being here. That purpose has so far illuded every known faith or religion that our species has ever concocted for itself. But how can we expect to effectively search for this while we are hell bent on slaughtering each other in the name of those same religious convictions? Perhaps when the human race has matured sufficiently not to need this crutch of religious fantasy, ET might just give us a chance.
We already put out a huge amount of radio and other electro-magnetic radiation but it is mostly garbage. We should at least make the effort of putting out a simple repetative signal and KEEP SEARCHING! It might just convince ET that we're worth a visit - hostile or not.
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