Profile: Phil Armstrong

Personal background
Hi, I'm a chemistry teacher in Athens Ohio USA and hail originally from England but I've been here for nearly 10 years now. I'm a science nut with a particular interest in astronomy. I have a lovely wife and two children, my children have platinum blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, sometimes they compell me to do things using only their minds. I definitely feel inferior to them and I feel that once my usefulness has ended then they will "dispose" of me but hey, what are ya gonna do?
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
I think extraterrestrial life exists or at least has existed in the past. It is possible that intelligent life is so rare in the universe that sufficiently technically advanced civilizations have never existed simultaneously. Even if such civilizations do exist right now, I doubt that they have the ability to travel faster than light and therefore are so far away that physical contact between our two races is impossible. I think we will eventually recieve a radio signal that was either accidently or by design beamed in our direction but as for a conversation, I believe it's highly unlikely. Of course we should send out a beacon, I believe it is completely harmless, we will never be invaded by hostile aliens because they can't physically reach us in any reasonable time. The beacon should contain as much about our planet and civilization as can be squeezed into it. It will be like a cosmic web page, even if our civilization ends, the information about it's existence will still be bouncing around the universe for a future technical race to pick up, perhaps it will be the ultimate grave marker. I run SETI@home because I would be tickled pink if we did recieve a signal of artificial origin. It would put to rest certain philosophical questions I have. We might even learn a thing or two.
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