| Personal background |
|---|
Hi there,
I'm an Irishman living in Paris, France since September 1999. I've been involved with SETI@home since July 1999. I'm the IT manager for the Paris office of an international law firm. In my spare time, I like playing guitar, reading anything that comes my way (mainly science, history and psychology) and keeping up to speed on the latest SETI developments, as well as science in general. I'm a skeptic, that's to say hard evidence trumps all. As Carl Sagan put it:
"Extraordinary claims, require extraordinary evidence" |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
|---|
| I can't possibly say whether extraterrestrial life exists, I'd love to say yes, but there's no evidence either way. Such a discovery, would, I hope, unite us all in our common humanity. I like to think that such a momentous event in history would emphasise all the things we have in common, that we are all-despite skin colour, race, religion or any other excuse used to incite intolerance- the same, we all need to love and be loved. Notwithstanding the implications for science, organised religion would also be shaken up (not a bad thing in my mind). I wonder how the leaders of the main religions of the world would react to discovering that we do not occupy a special part of the universe provided us by a divine being, but we're on just another speck of dust in an obscure corner of a fairly average galaxy among hundreds of millions of other galaxies...and what would any alien visitor make of our various religions? Regarding beacons, for the last 70 years approximately, we have been broadcasting television and radio signals with reckless abandon....we probably stand out like a beacon already! The information on the Voyager plate is probably a good start, when we consider what information we might send. Something that would show potential viewers all of the positive aspects of humanity, our creativity, our compassion, all the things that make us what we are, which shine through even during the worst of times in our history. My dream for SETI is to make the most important discovery in the history of science, and along the way hopefully bring a sense of unity to us all. This project, apart from the ultimate scientific goal, has already succeeded in one sense, in that it has brought together people from all races, creeds and colour, and shows ththat we CAN act together, in spite of all the squabbles that riddle our tiny, lonely planet. If only our leaders could come together like the SETI community, what a world we would have. Ah, to dream.... |
| Your feedback on this profile |
|---|
| Recommend this profile for User of the Day: |
I like this profile |
| Alert administrators to an offensive profile: |
I do not like this profile |
|
| Account data |
View |
| Team |
None |
|
