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| Personal background |
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| Semi-retired 60 yr old chemist/biochemist/biophysicist. University basic research/teaching, applied chemical/biochemical research, commercial laboratory operation background. Over 40 years professional experience. Lifelong interests in astronomy, astrobiology, origin of life, biophysics, bioenergetics, molecular biology, molecular genetics, molecular and cellular evolution, biological membrane transport and other functions, quantum chemistry, cosmology, astrophysics, and SETI. Attended UCLA and UCBerkeley. Postdoc at University of Wisconsin, Madison. Writing papers and a book on a grand unified theory of cosmology and states of matter using known, well-studied physicochemical bases for all aspects rather than Big Bang/Inflationary/superstring or brane models of the universe. Dark matter is real matter. No WIMPS or MACHOS allowed. :-) |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I am convinced that extraterrestrial life exists and have been since Harold Urey and Stanley Miller's work was published. Life as we know it is a biomolecular process and only requires the right ingredients, structural integrity, and energy sources in which to thrive. Everything I have seen since just reinforces that certainty.
I am not certain we will be able to pick up signals from distant technology using a radiotelescope approach like SETI is doing but am willing to keep an open mind on the possibilities and support the effort.
Other civilizations may not have the same chemical or neurobiological makeup to be able to discover and invent such devices as radio transmitters or receivers but could be using totally novel forms of communications that we haven't yet discovered (e.g., time travel, worm hole communication, plasma waves, etc.). So the assumptions that are inherent in the SETI project limit us to finding only those ETs that are similarly limited like us.
I also think that radiowaves do lose power (e.g., are absorbed) and directionality as they pass through cosmic dust, atoms, subatomic particles and gravitational fields as they travel over vast distances from remote sources. At some point the signal strength will become too weak for even the Arecibo Radio Observatory to pick out of the background noise. At this point of signal loss, I would attribute it to a condition of full attenuation and thus not expect to be able to see any signals originating from even more distant sources. It is the radioequivalent of the spectroscopic Beers-Lambert Law in physical chemistry. Others however seem to prefer explanations of a finite universe with an outer boundary beyond which nothing exists, such as Big Bang. I am not of this school of thought. For non-random and non-periodic signals coming from closer sources, you may find a higher probability that "intelligent" if not manmade origins apply. Those sources should be studied for a long time before attempts are made to communicate with them. |
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