| Personal background |
| I am a IT systems analyst currently employed by a large daily newspaper. In my early 40s, I enjoy sciences, water sports, golf, tennis and time spent with my wife and children. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
Does extraterrestrial life exist? I believe the question is better formulated as can we expect that extraterrestrial life whose technological state is close to ours to exist at the very instant we look at a certain point in the sky. Over the 5 to 10 billion years of existance of a relatively mature universe, in which conditions for life possible, can we be fortunate enough to detect an intelligent signal from a planet in a system that has been stable enough to nourish a technological species. Humans have left a barely identifiable trace for only 150 years of our history, if we constrain that trace to be electromagnetic signals of a periodic nature. Given that fact, any life outside of a mere 150 light year radius would look at our sun and conclude that no inteligent life exists in our system. That distance would cover a such a small percentage of our own galaxy to be insignificant. So why run SETI? Because since I am convinced that extraterrestrial life exists, even possibly outside the constrains we place on it (carbon/oxygen and all that), I consider that something even seemingly improbable is always possible. After all, we are here.
What can we expect to gain in the immediate? Possibly if we understand that we are not alone or even unique, we may gain a more tolerant understanding of those who share this little island planet with us. |
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