Profile: xTron

Personal background
Hey there,

I was born in Hawaii and now live in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. I work as a Senior Network Engineer/Consultant. My hobbies are: Astronomy, Playing the Piano, Computers, Composing Music, Reading/Watching Sci-Fi, Physics, and Ray Tracing 3D Graphics.

I grew up in Massachusetts. My first computer was the beloved Commodore-64 in 1983. Then in high school, I was allowed to use the DEC PDP-11 as an extra curricular activity. Then the high school received two new DEC VAXs running VMS/DCL. I thought I was hooked on my Commodore - DEC VAX ruled! Haha. In college my degree was in programming and I worked with larger DEC VAXs and IBM 370s. I was a mainframe computer operator for almost 7 years. We were mostly a DEC house, but I also used the IBM Series-1, and the HP 1000 mini computers, which were not so mini. I also remotely administered IBM AS/400 and System 38. I then started getting more into computer networking. Novell, Unix, Windows NT, 2kx.

I started using Seti@Home back in July 1999. A friend introduced me to the intriguing screen saver.

I truly feel if we do not dream and imagine extraordinary things that may seem utterly impossible, how will it ever become possible? I would LOVE to take a ride on Albert Einsteins ray of light, witness Steven Hawkings A Brief History of Time, take a ride in H. G. Wells "Time Machine", or maybe even see Brian Greene's super-string universe from a string's point of view.

My own personal epiphany: The more I learn, the more I learn I do not know.
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
I am adamantly certain there is life beyond our Earth, from single celled to more complex then ourselves.

There are, yet, things that our true science can not explain. Our history has used anything from gods, wild non-scientific theories, and avant-garde science to explain it away. I, myself, have seen things to which I have no solid explanation.

I am mildly skeptical that Seti@Home will find evidence of intelligent life within my lifetime. Nonetheless, the part of me that is not skeptical allows me to participate. (big smile)

In 2002, Astronomy has documented over 100 planets in other solar systems, most of them all giants. In a few years, our advances in technology will afford Astronomy the ability to document earth-sized planets. I do believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Combining all of our technologies and sciences, perhaps we could find evidence of intelligent life within our lifetime. I think Seti@Home may have a greater chance for success if they focus their efforts on these newly found planets.
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