| Personal background |
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I am 26 years old and currently working for the United States Air Force in the field of Information Systems. I am stationed in Germany as of this writing. At work I spend all day making sure my network of Windows and Unix stations function glitch-free and smooth. When I get home I feed my brain with any information I can get my hands on. I am an avid reader of non-fiction, mostly pertaining to all forms of Science, although I must say the subject of Astronomy fills most of my bookshelves.
Usually once a year I build a brand new computer from scratch and sell my old one to a friend, or throw it in a corner to collect dust. Recently, however, I have decided to reconnect all my systems to help with the SETI@home project. I have six systems total, five of which I run the SETI program on, 24 hours a day.
When I am not reading or working I like to hop in my car and get lost in the beautiful countryside of Southwest Germany. I am only hours away from the French border, and the sites in-between are amazing. I love photography and I am constantly on the look out for that perfect shot when I drive around. I scan all of my photos into my computer and make digital albums to share with family and friends.
In the near future I plan on buying a nice telescope so that I can start doing night photography of all the wonders of the sky. It’s one thing to see a photo of a galaxy, or a star being born in a magazine, but it’s an entirely different feeling when you track down a piece of the sky and see it with your own eye!
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| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I firmly believe in extraterrestrial life on other worlds. Is this life intelligent, primitive or highly advanced? Will we make contact in the next 50, 100, or 1000 years? I can’t answer those questions. I don’t believe that anyone really can. There are far too many unknown variables to accurately estimate a time of discovery. What I do believe is that there are two outcomes that will emerge. The first, and the one I most hope for, is that this meeting will solidify humans into one race working towards a common goal of knowledge and understanding. We will come together, as one, and evolve into a species that betters itself as a whole. The second outcome is that we will exploit any knowledge we receive and quicken our downward spiral to self-destruction. And in our current state, it’s all to possible.
What I love best about SETI is the feeling of coming together. This research is not behind closed doors in the hands of a company bent on making a dollar. It is in the hands of 4.5 million people from around the world that have faith and believe in a worthwhile goal. We, each of us, believe that life is out there and we will find it, regardless of how long it takes us. As our technology grows, so shall our reach into the universe and our understanding of its workings.
Our universal beacon should be very basic. It should be a message that simply states, “Here we are!†Perhaps it could be a radio pulse transmission of the numbers one through ten. I believe this alone will impress upon others that we are intelligent enough to create a logical radio signal, and we want to be found. As with any beacon sent out into deep space, it has the duel purpose of saying, “We know you are out there, and we are looking!â€
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