Why SETI? Well, I became aware of the project around doing some research about the movie "Contact". Basically I take it like Ellie Arroway´s father says:
"If it was just us, it would be an awful waste of space."
I strongly believe in the existence of extra-terrestrial life but I am convinced, that neither me nor my children will encounter any contacts with other life-forms. This is something for the far future. Please understand this as something very positive. Why? Because at the moment, the way mankind behaves, might either not look very attractive to somebody outside or - which would be even worse - might look as the ultimate invitation to just erase these nasty life-form for the good of the whole universe. Let´s sort out the majority of our problems first, before we make the next step. Start walking before thinking about how to fly. Consequently... do not send out messages on purpose before we havn´t even seen a decade of continuous peace.
On the other hand, discovering extraterrestrial life might put todays conflicts on earth in the correct context. In other words... they would appear to be absolutely ludicrous and non-important facing the chance to learn and benefit from other life-forms outside our world. Maybe it could even remove the egocentric way of man´s usual way of thinking.
The SETI project to me represents the essence of mankinds only possible future: co-operation, trust and open-minded curiosity. The internet basically follows the same approach although a lot of today´s business users don´t seem to buy into that concept and therefore tend to weaken this fundamental framework. |