| Personal background |
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Graduated 2006 with BSc(Hons) in Natural Science with Physics.
May study in future if I can squeeze it in between the Family Thing...
Probably Music next time! |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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Many BOINC projects are well worthwhile, I also run Climateprediction.net, Einstein@Home, QMC@HOME and malariacontrol.net, amongst others. I actually consider the problem of SETI to be essentially a four dimensional one, i.e., it is highly likely that advanced technological civilisations will arise in many places in our galaxy, but whether any two or more will arise concurrently (by which, capable of detecting signals from each other- this depends on the double coincidence of being able to transmit signals AND another civilisation being able to detect them, anything from a few to thousands of years later, depending on distance travelled at the velocity of light) is a probability that, I believe, tends virtually to zero. The conditions required for life to have arisen on earth- a benign, gentle star, with a long hydrogen-burning life;liquid water; a healthy 23 degree tilt on the axis caused by collisions between protoplanets; the resultant sister world (our Moon) being exactly the right size to cause moderate tides; plants evolving to generate molecular oxygen; a liquid core of the right size to generate the right magnitude of magnetic field; etc, etc- the chances of intelligent life emerging on two such fortunate worlds (maybe a millionth of all planets in the galaxy?) at the same time are slim. Given also that the necessary generations of stellar evolution have to have arisen to synthesize the necessary heavy elements, then for life to evolve, I believe that, in terms of the shortest time possible from the Big Bang to intelligent life, we may well be the first. None of this augurs well!
But there's no harm in listening very carefully....perhaps our descendants will be the ones that leave the intelligent monoliths! |
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