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| Personal background |
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Currently living in Arlington, Virginia, USA.
Some of my earliest memories involve watching the lunar landings on TV. I was too young to understand and bored to tears, but I'm grateful now that my dad, knowing the importance of the events, made me sit there and watch.
I've been interested in astronomy from a very young age, maybe because my dad served as a navigator in the U.S. Air Force and often talked of how he would "shoot the stars" at night to pinpoint the position of his plane, showing me the constellations and telling me names of stars. I remember being captivated by how much was "out there" and how much we had yet to discover about the universe.
Then, later, I discovered Star Trek and science fiction, and I let myself be carried off into space on ships of the imagination. When Dr. Sagan launched Cosmos as I was starting high school, I found that the realities of the universe and breadth of life itself were equally compelling - even more so. I began to study astronomy in college (and promptly realized, to my disappointment, that I just didn't have the mathematical cojones to pursue it very far) and have been something of an amateur astronomer ever since. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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S@H: Do you think extraterrestrial life exists?
MGH: Undoubtedly.
S@H: If so, when and how will humans discover it?
MGH: Most likley in the first quarter of this century by a project like SETI Institute's Project Phoenix.
S@H: What are the possible benefits of such a discovery?
MGH: The simple knowledge that we are not alone in the universe. Since distances are too great for any meaningful exchanges, this will have to suffice (at least for a while).
S@H: What are the possible dangers of such a discovery?
MGH: The simple knowledge that we are not alone in the universe. I rather doubt that the majority of humanity is ready to face the prospect that we may not be the center and focus of creation.
S@H: Should humans transmit a beacon for others to find?
MGH: Too late; we've been doing it since Marconi.
S@H: If so, what information should we send?
MGH: Most probably NOT what we've been sending. Our news programming alone should be disturbing enough to intelligent beings (extraterrestrial or otherwise), and when one considers our entertainment programming...yeesh!
S@H: Why do you run SETI@home?
MGH: I don't LIKE being the center of the universe, and can't wait to have proof that we're not. I believe humanity's greatest advances have taken place when we've been faced with the fact that, as individuals or groups, we may not be alone, but we are together. When we can know that fact as a single race, we might be motivated to take better care of ourselves, our planet, and each other.
S@H: What are your views about the project?
MGH: I'm excited to be a small part of it. Thanks, SETI@home!
S@H: Any suggestions?
MGH: More evangelization! |
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