I am a 44 year old (freelance) computer scientist (Diplom Informatiker) living in Germany.
My #1 hobbies are Cosmology and Quantum Physics. I strongly believe in the existence of parallel universes, the "big bang" and inflation theory.
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
I believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life forms (what so ever) and I hope that humans will discover an (inhabited) earth like (blue) planet in the near future.
"Just" to get strong evidence that "only" very primitive life may exist out there might cause a big boost in human mind. A boost, realizing: "We are not alone!!!"
I guess that we transmitted already too much garbage into space (radio and TV signals) and that there is no need transmit a beacon to aliens out there (the chance to be detected and even to receive a response might be "less than zero").
I would prefer to build a radio antenna on the dark side of the moon and to intensify an advanced "SETI-like" search. Such an exposed location would allow research without any interferences with transmissions from earth.
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.
