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| Personal background |
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| Science Rocks! A number of Eons ago (or perhaps it was only a few Epochs ago), I received a BS in Geology. Since then I have been involved in various astronomical, paleontological, and philosophical associations. Professionally, I’ve worked as a Physical Scientist, GIS Specialists/Manager, Geographer, and Cartographer for the US Government for 32 years (retired in 2015), but my secret life has been in philosophy and videography. Currently I’m working on a Masters in Philosophy with an emphasis on trying to better understand the various contingent conditions of evolution and the effect they have had on the development of humanity. Philosophy Rules! I'm also a semi-professional videographer. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I don’t believe it is a matter of asking if there is other life in the universe; rather it's a matter of finding it. As Sagan was fond of saying, the “stuff of life" appears to be ubiquitous throughout the universe. It’s simply human folly and hubris to think that we are alone.
I’ve participated in SETI since May of 1999 because I’m interested in finding this other life and eventually in better understanding the contingent conditions that have shaped it. Life on Earth is merely one option out of the plethora of options available in the universe. Yet even on Earth we find a great variety of “solutions†to the various problems poised by living in our environment. Darwin, for example, noted this when he argued that our sense of morality would be radically different if we had descended from insects rather than from social primates. I would therefore be surprised if our encounter with life from other parts of the universe was not in large part surprising and counter-intuitive. It may even be the case that the different contingent evolutionary conditions of alien life may be so counter-intuitive as to be incommensurable with us and thus very frightening and even dangerous. While I whole-heartedly and enthusiastically support SETI, I also advise caution against naive optimism or utopianism. Encountering alien life may be like walking into a hornet’s nest and expecting peaceful relations. If life elsewhere in the universe is anything like life on Earth it will be self-serving and looking to exploit a niche as best it can. |
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