Alien hunt in space may score by 2025

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Saturday, October 25, 2003 | Michael Woods

[Willie Green]

E.T., the extraterrestrial, may prowl neighborhoods on Halloween with Hollywood's other soft-and-squishy renditions of intelligent alien life forms.

But when might we humans actually, finally encounter the real thing?

Probably in your lifetime. By 2025.

The leading experts in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., recently completed the most systematic calculations ever performed on when the human race is likely to contact intelligent alien life for the first time.

[MitchellC]

Give me a break.

[GeekDejure]

Seth Shostak unveiled SETI's predictions at an international astronomy conference in Germany earlier this month.

Forget it, Seth . . . we don't need to discover any more fanatical Muzzle-em murder mongers and homicide bombers. Furthermore, sources say they are promised 72,000 Virgins if they die while trying to convert us to Marslam !!!

Sooooo . . . wye don'tcha jes leeve wella nuffa loan, cuz we's gots 'r handz fulla sh!t all red E widout yer hep !!! ;-))

.

[Cruising Speed]

The search for extraterrestrials has been intermittent, however. In 1993, a budget-cutting U. S. Congress canceled NASA's SETI program.

If ETs were out there, their radio signals would have been heard as soon as Arecibo was turned on. No radio signals, no ETs. Waste of money. Hard as it is to accept, we're here by ourselves.

[Calvin Locke]

If you don't like SETI, but you want to "feel good" about those extra cpu cycles, there are a couple of other
distributed computing projects. AIDS, I believe, has a copycat guilt trip project going, among others.

What's this about $30???

[PatrickHenry]

Great pic!

[Cruising Speed]

Your idea that ...an infinite universe is...an enormous waste of empty space unless it is filled with infinite intelligences is interesting but depends on your definition of 'waste'. I'm here to enjoy it, ergo it isn't a waste, imho.

[saminfl]

Shostak nevertheless thinks humans are likely first to contact super-intelligent machines -- machines capable of reproducing themselves that have come to dominate their planets. They may view biological life forms much as humans view domestic pets or wildlife.

So the machines got smarter than their builders?

[GatekeeperBookman]

Looks like the Road Trip to Waco-wasn't Gen. Boykin there too?

[GatekeeperBookman]

I believe the man had a book-"To Serve Man" & the guys at the UN mistook it to mean, be of service to man. It was a cook-book. If this the man from a Twilight Zone episode.

[f.Christian]

That teri schiavo woman is going to drive liberals crazy ... ' no child left behind ' --- pure chosen master race !

Total power - control - domination ... world wide liberalism --- no freedom !

[SSN558]

The earth has already been visited by aliens looking for intelligent life. What do you think the odds of them ever comming back for a second look are ?

[varon]

I may get lucky by 2025

[Old Professer]

Shostak nevertheless thinks humans are likely first to contact super-intelligent machines -- machines capable of reproducing themselves that have come to dominate their planets. They may view biological life forms much as humans view domestic pets or wildlife.

Why would a machine want to reproduce itself?

[RadioAstronomer]

If ETs were out there, their radio signals would have been heard as soon as Arecibo was turned on. No radio signals, no ETs. Waste of money. Hard as it is to accept, we're here by ourselves.

Hogwash. Hmmm.... I turn on my 802-11b wireless connection outside of town. WOW no signal. Must be because there are none anywhere? Same diff.

[COBOL2Java]

If this the man from a Twilight Zone episode.

That's the fellow. You also might recognize him in the original "Addams Family" TV series, as Lurch.

[yhwhsman]

Is that a young lurch? The actor, not the politician.

[edwin hubble]

Thanks for the ping.

OK. By taking the SETI search rate (stars per year) x 22 more years, and estimated # of stars in the galaxy, we could estimate the values they are using for each component of the Drake Equation:


N = R* • fp • ne • fl • fi • fc • L

Where,

N = The number of civilizations in The Milky Way Galaxy whose electromagnetic emissions are detectable.

R* =The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life.

fp = The fraction of those stars with planetary systems.

ne = The number of planets, per solar system, with an environment suitable for life.

fl = The fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears.

fi = The fraction of life bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges. For more information, please visit Dr. William Calvin's "The Drake Equation's fi"

fc = The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.

L = The length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.

[Ogmios]

No doubt about that.

They'd come down, we'd throw a party, and then berbcue them because they look like cows or something.

Or we'd all get drunk, we'd whack him over the head and steal his spaceship and go for a joyride.

It's better for them if they stay away from this lunatic planet, at least until we're done killing each other off.

[COBOL2Java]

Is that a young lurch? The actor, not the politician.

I thought it was Lurch (Ted Cassidy), but I was wrong. It's a young Richard Kiel. This bio is from www.what-a-character.com:

Richard Kiel

Born in Detroit, Michigan/USA
September 13, 1939

At 7’2” tall and 340 pounds, Richard Kiel is certainly one of the largest men to ever fill a motion picture screen, and fill it he did as “Jaws” in the James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Kiel’s metal-toothed character was so popular in the former film that his character was reworked into more of a “good guy” role for Moonraker. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he was a staple on 1960s television, appearing a number of times as "Voltaire" on The Wild, Wild West, and in a memorable role as a “Kanamit,” a giant race of aliens that viewed humans as a tasty snack, in The Twilight Zone episode: "To Serve Man." Interestingly, Kiel was originally cast as “the Hulk” in the pilot for the 1970s era TV series The Incredible Hulk, a role that in the end went to bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno when they opted for someone with more muscle size.

Off-screen, Kiel is a devout Christian who has spent much of his time spreading his faith. Kiel also has written and produced a number of films, including The Giant of Thunder Mountain. He met his 5’1” wife, Diane, while working on the prison football drama The Longest Yard and the couple have raised their four children at their California home not far from Yosemite National Park. In recent years, Kiel has been hampered by leg problems and has devoted a great deal of time researching and writing a screenplay on Cassius Clay, a Kentucky native and prominent anti-slavery emancipationist, who lived from 1810-1903.

---

As for Lurch, here's his bio in www.what-a-character.com:

Ted Cassidy

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania/USA
July 31, 1932

Died: January 16, 1979
(during heart surgery)

Along with Richard Kiel, Ted Cassidy was much in demand for any role that called for a giant during the 1960s and 1970s. Fans of TV’s The Addams Family will remember the deep voiced Cassidy as the towering “Lurch,” and he played the disembodied hand “Thing” on the show, as well. He had a short but memorable scene with Paul Newman in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which he challenged Newman to a knife fight, much to his detriment. Star Trek fans will recognize him as the giant android "Ruk" in the episode: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?," and he also provided the voice of the “Gorn” in the episode “Arena.” A favorite of producer Gene Roddenberry, he appeared in several of Roddenberry’s post-Star Trek pilots including Genesis II and Planet Earth. His deep voice was frequently used in animated series, and he could be heard as the narrator during the opening credits of TV’s The Incredible Hulk. He died during heart surgery at the age of only 46.

[GatekeeperBookman]

And we are deliberately attempting to contact species of life, unknown??