|
| Personal background |
I'm an Ottawa native, trained as a computational chemist but
currently working on video switching software, thanks to spending
too much time in high school hacking raw machine code. My main
hobbies involve science fiction -- former president and now treasurer
of the Ottawa Science Fiction Society, and active in several
fannish activities, especially filking. I write SF-related songs,
sometimes parodies of original songs, sometimes completely original, mostly humorous.
I'm also involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism; my
participation there has ranged from cooking to singing to heraldry.
And I create new recipes, especially extremely rich desserts
with lots of chocolate. My website has a lot of my songs,
recipes, and miscellaneous other kinds of creative work
for people to enjoy.</P>
(Also, I'm single, and looking for a girlfriend. :-) )
|
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
I do think that extraterrestrial life exists. After all, life
exists in so many bizarre forms under widely-differing conditions
on our own planet -- relatively simple life forms with sulfur-based
biochemistry (and stranger!) imbedded in deep rocks, organisms that
survive in boiling water, and so on. It appears that self-replicating
biochemistry can come to be in many ways.</P>
But *intelligent* life is going to be much less common.
There appear to be lots of planets out there, based on the
observational evidence for giant planets, and assuming
that their existence also implies that of smaller planets. But it's starting to look like
the relatively pleasant conditions we've got on Earth at the moment
may be rather rare. The "normal state" for a planet like ours seems
to be either frozen, or broiling under a greenhouse blanket. We've
gotten lucky that our ice ages have been broken by deep-sea methane
deposits giving some temporary warming. If we assume that these
moderate conditions are necessary for complex organisms to develop,
and that that kind of complexity is necessary for intelligence to
form... intelligence is going to be rare in the universe.</P>
Which isn't to say it isn't worth looking for. The potential benefits
of finding extraterrestrial life range from the fundamental scientific
discoveries about radically different biochemistries, to the
philosophical growth from having very different points of view to
bounce around. Simply knowing that we aren't alone would shake up
some schools of thought.</P>
Sending a signal that we could detect at interstellar distances
would, if nothing else, require energy resources far beyond anything
we have available. Energy is one of our fundamental needs. Anyone
who can send us a signal from a distant star could tell us some
things that could revolutionize life as we know it.</P>
I run SETI@home because it's a long shot but the potential
benefits are enormous. And because it's a really nifty project.
|
| 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 |
|
|
