|
| Personal background |
|---|
Based on mathematical probability that takes account of the vast number of stars out there, well explained elsewhere by Carl Sagan et al in pop science books and TV programmes, it's very unlikely intelligent life does NOT exist out there.
The search for signs of this life is very worthwhile and interesting - not so much as it may someday prove that intelligent life exists out there, but that it proves that it actulally exists down here on this war-torn little rock of a planet. As I write this, up to three and a quarter million people are working together on this one project - that is amazing.
Being a small human part of the Earth's "largest computer" is also fairly cool.
|
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
|---|
Opinions About SETI and SETI@home
=================================
Q1 - I think ET life must exist - there's too many stars out there for it not to. We'll find it by listening very carefully and being patient - the next nearest nearest civilisations with radio transmitting capability might be hundreds or thousands of light years away - so their signals might still take some years to get here - even if they've been loud and active for hundreds of years. Benefits and dangers? Who can say - it will certainly put our squabbles in perspective - shake things up a bit. The danger would not come from ET for a while - unless they've worked out how to do faster than light travel - it's more likely to come from here - fanatics with too much to lose by the discovery etc.
Q2. - No reason why we shouldn't send out a beacon - by the time it gets anywhere we should have advanced enough to deal with any (unlikely IMHO) bad guys it might attract. We should just transmit mathematical stuff and simple pictures - I'd stay away from the religion and art - in case it pisses someone off - you never know!
Q3 - I run SET@home mainly because I like the idea of being part of the world's largest computing project. If we end up phoning ET then great. Whoever dreamt up the concept is a genius, by the way - simple idea with a big effect.
In a way, I'm looking forward to a sucessful end to the project so we can use this immense power to the direct benefit of people down here - stuff like the Human Genome Project. If SETI does finish, we should all stay together, rather than fragment into smaller groups, although how we decide what we all do next would be a bit of a problem. I think we need another simple idea!
|
| 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 |
|
|
