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| Personal background |
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I'm a middle-aged computer geek located in North Alabama,
where I provide customer systems support services for a
library software company. I'm an avid reader, especially
science and science fiction, and have always had an
interest in space. Other hobbies include travel (the photo
is from Ireland's Cliffs of Moher), pets (cats, dogs, and
fish) and spending time with friends cooking and playing
cards. I've been the partner of Lisa for almost 10 years.
She has her feet solidly planted on THIS planet, but
tolerates my obsessive sci-fi reading with good humor. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I believe the odds favor life on other planets. The number
of planets is unknowable -- it seems presumptious to assume
that all the right conditions for life would have fallen
into place on only one. Obviously we risk finding a people
who are so far advanced they can move in and take over. We
may also find a people who can help us achieve peace, feed
our hungry, and abolish poverty.
A beacon could only improve our chances. Perhaps we can
transmit some universal laws -- prime numbers, for examples
-- or images of what humans looks like, samples of our
different languages... the possibilities seem endless.
I run SETI@home (at work, actually) because I believe there
IS something to look for. We may not find it soon, but even
if SETI succeeds only in ruling out one possibility, that's
a success. Then we move on the the next type of search... My
computer is on anyway, and SETI@home runs quietly in the
background. I think the idea of a distributed computing
project is ingenious, and I am glad to do my small part...
who knows, maybe I'll be the one to find a blip.
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