| Personal background |
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| I live in San Diego. 59 years old. BS in Astronomy, Berkeley 1966. MS Astronomy, Univ of Hawaii, 1969. Penn State, studies in Acoustics, 1987. Carnegi-Mellon, studies in Software Engineering, 1988. Civil Servant, US Navy, Computer Scientist/Systems Engineer for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance. Graduate of US Naval War College, 1996. Inventor. Art Collector. Home owner. Drive a 1963 Ford Falcon Stationwagon and a 1979 Ford F250 Pickup. No TV. Carpool to work. Exercise at 24 hr fitness. Intend to live long and prosper, but God will decide. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I don't know if extraterrestrial life exists, but I do know that it is a truly fundamental question that deserves the attention of thoughtful men and women everywhere. I weigh the arguments pro and con and try to understand the logic of each side of the argument. I find the Ames Research Center paper on how long it would take the human race to populate the Milky Way to be quite telling. Their conclusion of 1 million years based on 500 year increments of human expansion implies that we should have already encounter other life if they expanded in a similiar fashion. Who knows?
If extraterrestrials use spread spectrum communications with a tight beam pattern then we could be at the mercy of luck to detect their presence, I think.
The risks and benefits are left to the immagination since there are no known laws that favor alturistic life over predatory life and visa versa.
As far as trying to signal extraterrestrials, I would prefer a more cautious approach (too many SciFi movies). We may be forced to send a specific type of message if we don't take better care of our planet (HELP!!!).
I run SETI@home because I am interested in the question being pursued. Technological advances and our increasing understanding of the Universe may change the technology of the search and even the hypothesies of how extraterrestrial life can be detected. |
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