I am a 49 year old graphic artist and web designer from Southern California. I have had an interest in space since I was a little boy and can remember sitting transfixed in front of my TV during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space missions. I still avidly follow the shuttle missions and all unmanned exploration flights. I have always believed that we are not alone in the universe and have even taken an interest in UFOs and aliens. The evidence may not support the fact that we are being visited but all the reports and photos of UFOs does show something unusual is going on and I feel it needs serious investigation.
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
I think SETI is an extremely important project and I think the government should be funding it along with an expanded search for near earth asteroids. I hope that we will receive a valid signal in my lifetime or maybe if these UFO stories are true they will reveal themselves to us. I think it would be beneficial to society as a whole to finally realize that we are part of a universe rich with life and not some fluke of nature. Of course there are dangers associated with this type of exploration as there are with any type of exploration. Explorers in history have taken risks and it is no different today. I know some think that revealing ourselves to the universe could attract hostile aliens but I think that is unlikely. I would think any civilization that is advanced enough to travel to Earth would have long ago outgrown any violent tendencies. So I think there is little danger in transmitting a beacon containing our physical description and basic cultural information. I run SETI@Home because I feel I am doing something that is important for all mankind.
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.
