The universe is so vast with billions of galaxies. And in each hundreds of billions of stars. As an individual with rational thought I find it hard to believe there isn’t an abundance of life out there. However life that is intelligent and capable of radio communication and still further willing and able to communicate with us is I believe rare and unlikely. The distance between the stars is so great that the challenge of detecting a message becomes quite daunting and improbable. Much like winning the lotto one hesitates because of the improbability of winning as I’m one to testify.
But enough pessimism. The fact is we still play don’t we. Why? Because of the reward if we do win and the hopes and dreams that come with it. I don’t know how meaningful and useful a message from outer space is. But I suspect it would be of grand importance. Our species has reached a point in time where we can look for such signals. If only from an intellectual point of view this is one endeavor that sets us apart from the daily grind of life and elevates us higher.
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.
