Profile: SteveO

Personal background
Hi there! How are you? Good? Excellent. Yes, I'm fine too, thanks for asking. Well, I work at the Glasgow Science Centre, as Live Performance Co-ordinator. What does that involve? Blowing things up, setting fire to things, having a laugh and communicating Science. Well no, you're right, that's not all I do. I also play poker, climb mountains, and read books, although rarely all at once. My favourite word is tmesis (fan-bloody-tastic) and my favourite place is right here, where I am now.
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
Do I think extraterrestrial life exists? Maybe. I'm not sure. As a scientist I'd have to say that the evidence doesn't justify the answer "yes" (yet). When will we discover it? Maybe never. Space, as the man said, is BIG. Really, really BIG. If ET is phoning us from across the galaxy, we'll have a long wait before we hear his message. As to the benefits of such a discovery: changing our worldview from an insular homocentric model to a more cosmic-cosmopolitan one, and making us realise that we are all part of a much Bigger Picture. That, I think, more than anything else in history, would be a catalyst for social change. And the dangers of such a discovery? Reference the previous answer.

Should we transmit a beacon for others to find? Yes, absolutely. I reckon we'll have a long wait for an answer though...

Why do I run SETI@home? Because maybe, just maybe, my little laptop will be the first thing on Earth to get that all important message from the Vogon Constructor Fleet: "People of Earth, your attention please..."
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