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| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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Why do you run SETI@home?
I like to join SETI. Already during my study of astronomy, back in the seventies, there was much speculation about extraterrestrial (intelligent) life and how to detect it and how long it would take to find it, given some assumptions which were then even more here nor there than they are now.
It seems to me to be one of the great adventures of our time, and by all means a lot more peaceful than other occupations of our species.
Thoughts about ETI
I think it appears more and more clear that our earth will appear not to be the only planet with life on board.
We might eventually even get in contact with intelligent life elsewhere, though that will only be by means of signals which they sent a very long time ago, which means it will essentially be a one-way traffic. Understanding their message, and then return an answer, and then waiting for their answer, would take ages and ages. So the message must contain all they want us to know.
I don't know about benefits. It might well be we will not be able to benefit from their accomplishments, their views and way of life, without throwing away that of ours. I don't know if people that used to live in the stone age just recently feel they benefited from their encounters with the white man. Might be, knowledge can take away a lot of unnecessary fears.
It can of course be quite dangerous, though distances appear quite prohibiting for direct physical contact, according our present knowledge. But did one astronomer not say just about 1,5 centuries ago that man would never find out what stars are made of? And then came along Fraunhofer and his spectral analysis.
A famous astronomer in the 19th century "proved" that flying machines would be impossible, as machines heavier than air would never get aloft. He forgot about the birds flying around his head. |
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