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| Personal background |
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I'm an engineer, 30, born and located near Antwerp, Belgium. Currently occupied as network admin of a mid sized company. I enjoy reading, playing computer sims, watching quality British detective series (Morse, Touch of Frost...) and of course the Simpsons :-) , playing snooker (high break 55!), digital photo manipulation and getting in touch with people over the Net.
Ever since I got a book about the solar system and space-exploration at the age of ten, I've been fascinated by related subjects. That book almost fell apart in the end! In general, anything science-related can capture my attention, although I don't feel the need to dig into the technical details. Mainly the implications of discoveries I find intriguing, especially in the fields of cosmology, astronomy, evolution, genetics & associated ethical questions, artificial intelligence, computers etc.. For those who are familiar: I guess the BBC television program HORIZON is just about the kind of depth that I'm looking for mostly. I certainly ain't a typical eternal technology optimist, but at least I acknowledge that those people are necessary for progress :-)
My appreciation goes out to people with principles, and goals that supercede the personal. Currently I'd say that my fellow countryman and newly elected IOC president Jacques Rogge is the best example of people I respect. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I've been participating in the project since july '99 with one PC at home and a varying number of systems at work (spare PC's, low-occupied servers, volunteering users and users that have absolutely no clue why their HD makes just that little bit more noise than usual :-). Mostly PII and PIII systems. Now also an Athlon1200 workhorse at home! During these two years, I've been climbing the rankings almost constantly. The competitive aspect is part of the motivation to participate, but calculating Pi or other mathematical challenges would not have convinced me.
I participate because SETI@home is an archetype of all the good things that science and technology, and the Internet, *could* do for humanity: It enables people from all over the world to unite in a common quest. There is no commercial (bwah!) interest. It gets maximum results with an absolute minimum of resources. It's frontline science with potential benefit for entire humanity. It's one of the first Internet projects that are able to show the true potential of a worldwide network......
Nevertheless I can't say that I expect results from this project in the foreseeable future. Detecting intelligent life out there in a period of say 5 or let alone 100 years seems a long shot taking all facts into consideration. For every argument supporting an optimistic view, you can come up with counter arguments(anthropic-principle, "why aren't they here yet? etc...). But while I am not as optimistic as some, I certainly acknowlegde the one central given in this matter: we have so little information that ANY strong feeling for or against is pretty meaningless. I would oppose putting shiploads of money into a SETI project, but this is the perfect example of how it SHOULD be done. SETI@home is our way to protect the small chance of success that exists. You can't find unless you look...
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