Profile: Ron Ludwig

Personal background
Native of San Francisco; never moved far away from there ... still a great city.

I am systems engineer (programmer, analyst, designer); have been for over 30 years (yes, that means I'm "old"). I spend my whole day (when not in meetings) working on a computer. But, I do the interesting stuff when I get home and can use my computer for exploring and learning.

Interests include photography, genealogy, astronomy, ancient Egypt, travel (Europe, Middle East, North America), music (60's had some of the best music). And, there's the requisite enjoyment of Star Trek (I hope Roddenbury's vision of the future is the one that actually comes to be), Stargate, Battlestar Galactica (not the Lorne Green version ... that's good for campy entertainment but, the new series is really doing something with serious characters), Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker are probably the best of the Doctor's but the new series with Christopher Eccelston is really shaping up to be pretty good), Red Dwarf, and a plethora of British comedies (including My Family, Little Britain, and the oldies like Fawlty Towers and Black Adder). Well, maybe the last couple are not requisite but ....
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
I think the simple confirmation of life somewhere other than this planet would have the deepest effect on the people of this world. Medicine and technology could prolong our lives, give us a paradise in which to live, provide us with the things we desire, free us of the want for basic necessitie. But, finding out we are not alone would shake us to our cores. We could no longer easily be the self-centered lot we are now. Perhaps we would recognize ourselves as being part of a much larger community. Then we would have something to do with our lives, someone with whom to share our paradise.

Whatever the resulting effect, we, as a species, have been searching for knowledge, expanding our understanding of the world(s) of which we are a part. I want to help find that neighbor and SETI is a means. Plus, it would just be hella cool if my computer was the one that confirmed a signal.

I have no doubt there are myriad intelligent civilizations out there. It would such a waste of a lovely little galaxy for it to play host to just one little planet of life forms. I hope that if we can make contact somehow, that we can play nicely with one another.

I cannot help wondering, though, if the vast spaces between the suns of this galaxy were not there to act like "fence lines". Maybe we're quarantined until we can prove ourselves.
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