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| Personal background |
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I'm a computer professional living on Long Island (New York, USA). My family's been here in America since the mid 1600's, and in other parts of the original 13 colonies since the late 1500's. Before that, my ancestors trace back mostly to Scotland, Britain and The Netherlands. Records get a bit sketchy before that, but it seems likely that some of my ancestors were rowdy Viking pillagers who made a hobby of drinking mead, looting churches, cruising around in long ships while jamming to steppenwolf, and molesting the local ladies ;-)
As for myself - I'm a "Heinlein-Style" Dilettante in that I dabble in almost everything, time permitting: Distributed Computing, Home brewing, cooking, bicycling, kayaking, backpacking, archery, riflery, SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), martial arts, writing (various subjects), reading (SF, Fantasy, Science, Folklore & Myth, Poetry, History, Philosophy, etc.), Role Playing Games, good natured ribbing, vigorous debating, and fondling pretty women.
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| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I'm a card-carrying member of the World's No.1 SETI team: ArsTechnica TEAM LAMB CHOP (www.teamlambchop.com). I'm also the acting captain of one of Team Lamb Chop's oldest and most active sub-teams: THE DOGS OF WAR (TDOW). We stage regular competitions against other sub-teams within the ranks of TLC in order to have fun, stimulate enthusiasm, and generate exposure.
Yes, I believe that ET life exists - in fact, the odds are so high that it'd be absurd to claim otherwise. HOWEVER, the mind boggling vastness of space seems to render it highly unlikely that we will detect or contact said life within our lifetimes using radio-based technology (limited as it is by the speed of light). Technology vastly superior to what we are currently using is needed to accomplish SETI's primary mission. Until that technology is developed, we'd probably be better off using the existing data for Radio-Astronomy purposes, and/or replacing the project with something to help provide an early-warning net for near-Earth Asteroids.
In the meantime, I support the project for 2 major reasons: (1) Because of it's forward-looking stance. The only way to ultimately guarantee Mankind's long-term survival is to work towards our eventual diaspora into deep space ... and projects like SETI are a step in the right direction. (2) Because I enjoy competition and I like the ArsTechnical Distributed Community - where I've made more friends than I can easily count.
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