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| Personal background |
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| A web programmer and writer living in Portland with my physicist wife and bizarrely intelligent and messy-haired son (and four cats) |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I was captivated with the idea of sharing in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Also, the novelty of using my computer's "unused" processor cycles as part of a enormous "virtual" supercomputer was intriguing. If someone could figure out a way to network millions of amateur radio attenae attached to people's houses and process signals received by these, I would probably participate.
I recently had an argument about extraterrestial sentient life with a friend while travelling through Europe. He asked me if I believed there was life on other worlds outside our solar system. I said I felt it was extremely likely given the sheer number of star systems in the universe, however I said that I didn't "believe" in extraterrestrial life because there is not a shred of proof that it exists. "But either you believe in extraterrestrial life or you don't," he complained. "Well, I believe that it is extremely likely, but I choose not to believe in something I don't know exists," I answered. "Well, then, you DON'T believe in life out there," he concluded. "But that's not correct either," said I. "I certainly don't DISbelieve in extraterrestrial life, any more than I believe in it." "That's a paradoxical statement! Either you do or you don't!" he exclaimed, growing rather heated. "No. It's not," I countered. "The amazing thing about the human mind is the ability to conceive of the possibilities of things that are essentially unknowable, or at the least, almost impossible to prove. On the other hand, one of the pitfalls of the human mind is that element of superstition which allows us to believe in cause and effects which are not in fact real. The whole idea of the scientific method is to agree on standards for belief and disbelief that can be proven or disproven by anyone. What else can we use if not this as a guideline to keep from getting lost in the maze of misunderstanding which plagues our limited intellects." |
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