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| Personal background |
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Who am I (in 2000 words or less)? That's almost as much of a challenge as Seti itself!
I'm a computer professional (okay...geek) who's been in the field for about 15 years now. Currently working as a Web Infrastructure Architect for Kohls Corporation (www.kohls.com). I handle the systems and architecture which runs the Kohls Corporation E-Commerce website. I'm by no means alone in this endeavor, but my part plays it's hand quite well.
I'm also a loving father of four wonderful children (Phoebe, Victoria, Devinn, and Amara). We have our own website (taufner.net), but I haven't found enough time to really flesh out the whole vision I have, so what you see now is just a rough shell. More to come later...
I love music, used to play trumpet in high-school, and was actually quite an accomplished player. I've played duets and concerts with such greats as Dizzy Gillespe, Magnus Ferguson, and others, as our school's Jazz band was one of the best in the Midwest (at the time). Our marching band was also top rated, and we won the Peach Bowl to boot.
My favorite type of music is Electronic. Progressive, techno, trance, Goa, are my favorite sub-gens, as I have always been drawn to the electronic sound.
I also went to MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering) for a while, as a Computer Engineering student. Unfortunately, due to the lack of adequate funding, I ran out of money before I could graduate. I hope to correct that someday, but the prospects continue to remain dim, as their schedule is quite annonyingly in-flexible when it comes to some classes (not to mention the fact that I've forgotten about as much as I've learned...sigh).
I help run a Role Playing Gaming company called SSDC Inc. We make the Battlelords universe of games... check it out at www.ssdc.com! |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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As for my opinions... hmmm..
I *love* the idea of SETI. The actual act of allowing Joe Schmuck to get involved in a scientific process (voluntarily) and not have commercial interests constantly interfering is wonderful. It is like a dream, in which everyone can participate by applying a little of their time.
Will it pan out? Will we find anything? I hardly think so. The prospect itself is a great shot in the dark, as we have only been here for so little Galactic time. Entire civilizations on other planets could have come and went in the space prior to our time here. We can only hope that statistical chance will be on our side, and allow us to view a glimpse of the beauty of the entire universe.
However, we still can't stop searching. For that is what truely drives some of us. The prospect of finding something... somewhere. It is that single endeavor which many of us will take up and will drive us to fight, even with overwhelming odds. I think that is what kept many of us going, and has assuredly kept the research teams up at night.
As for our message? We're already putting them out there. The egregarious radio scatter that we transmit on a daily basis from our sattelites and transmission towers is more than enough to cover our local systems. If we REALLY wanted to make a statement, we'd do something entirely extravagant, like create a reflector on the moon, which would reflect a pattern of light from the Sun to various angles. Something that could be observed in a more readily manner from the different star systems.
But that of course, would require an effort mankind seems to little interested in making. We seem to be too concerned with our petty differences, and self-interested greed to really seek anything of value. We live now, in a world of convienent research. Research funded mainly by commercial interests, for commercial needs, which may or may not have any real gains to the community. We can only hope our solid learning institutions can continue to make gains in spite. |
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