| Personal background |
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| My name is Paul and I am from the UK. I am 25 years old and am currently undertaking research for my PhD (Geology). I have been fascinated with astronomy and the planets since 1986 (blame Halley's Comet). I one day hope to be a planetary geologist. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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Believe it or not, I remain undecided on the presence of "intelligent" life in the universe. If life really did begin on this planet, and did not originate elsewhere but was subsequently "carried" here by meteorites/comets, then I think life must exists elsewhere because the conditions underwhich life began on this planet must and/or have existed on other planets. That is why the study of Mars is so important: evidence suggests that early Earth conditions also once existed on Mars, so if life will originate whenever such conditions exists, then evidence of life should be found on Mars. A lack of evidence of life on Mars would suggest that life will not always begin when conditions under which life began on Earth occur, making the possibility of life in the universe extremely rare.
It is this reason why it is vital for the continued exploration of Mars to take place, but under strict conditions ensuring no chemical, biological, or physical contamination of the planet, which may distroy or invalidate any evidence of life that may exist.
I personally think that basic life forms will form from the conditions present on Earth between 4 and 3.5 billion years ago ... but whether "intelligent" life (technologically advanced) will susequently evolve and be ready to send and receive signals through space at this present time remains unclear, especially given the many catastrophic and unique events our species has had to endure to reach its present level of intellegence and ability.
But, these are the questions that SETI will hopefully answer, and via SETI@home is an exciting way to be involved in what I believe to be the most important question we are capeable of asking: "are we alone in the universe?" |
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