Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Planning for a Long Search

Sky and Telescope ^ | 8.13.04 | By J. Kelly Beatty and Alan M. MacRobert

[Joe Hadenuf]

"If they really want to contact us, they can"

It would be interesting to one day discover that attempts to contact earth have been on going for hundreds or thousands of years, but we were just not using the right mode or criteria to receive it.

[Joe Hadenuf]

This is the article I referred to. Thought you'd like to see it.

[olde north church]

We are having a difficult enough time in our search for consistent intelligent life on this planet.

[Jaguar1942]

Ain't that the truth..

[Joe Hadenuf]

We are having a difficult enough time in our search for consistent intelligent life on this planet.

Maybe that's why they are looking elsewhere.

[johnb838]

I'm still hopeful. If it happens in my lifetime it will be like Columbus discovering the new world. I started to say times 10, but that would understate the impact on the 1490's world.

[RadioAstronomer]

Meanwhile our own technology is evolving toward more energy-efficient, point-to-point communications, rather than pumping ever more megawatts of radio power into the sky. "A hundred years from now," Drake predicted, "the Earth will disappear as a radio source."

I have made this very assertion here on FR many times. However, if we do move out into the solar system, IMHO, high power radio again will be employed.

[RadioAstronomer]

Thanks for posting this. :-)

[olde north church]

true, true

[G.Mason]

" ...we were just not using the right mode or criteria to receive it."

Put your ear on the railroad track. If your head is big enough use both tracks.

Be sure to look both ways before bending down.

I usually buy a bum homeless person abottle of Ripple wine and he watches for incoming. ;)

[LibWhacker]

Dumb question: How far away could we detect a 10 megaton hydrogen bomb going off in deep space?

Maybe we should be looking for those. Perhaps an advanced civilization could be expected to use them in space for various reasons (not just war), construction projects, etc.

[RadioAstronomer]

Dumb question: How far away could we detect a 10 megaton hydrogen bomb going off in deep space?

Not far at all.

[LibWhacker]

Oh, rats . . . Scratch that idea, then! :-)

[jeffc]

I didn't see where we are trying to contact anyone ourselves. Assuming there are others out there, how do we know they're not just listening, too?

[meandog]

...when will we get it through our heads that we are alone? Just as there is only one life form here on earth with creative intelligence (among literally the billions of species of living things on our planet), there is only one life form in the universe with creative intelligence: Human Beings. The real search should be why God planned it that way!
(and quit wasting money on SETI)

[RadioAstronomer]

when will we get it through our heads that we are alone?

Got proof?

Just as there is only one life form here on earth with creative intelligence (among literally the billions of species of living things on our planet), there is only one life form in the universe with creative intelligence: Human Beings.

In this vast universe, you know for a fact we are the only self aware tool building species?

The real search should be why God planned it that way!

He did? How do you know this? He told you?

(and quit wasting money on SETI)

That is my business what I do with my money as long as it is legal. And as far as I know, SETI is still legal.

[topcat54]

It would be interesting to one day discover that attempts to contact earth have been on going for hundreds or thousands of years, but we were just not using the right mode or criteria to receive it.

Absolutely. Just ask the dolphins before they disappear.

[Joe Hadenuf]

there is only one life form in the universe with creative intelligence

You may be right. But then again, you may be very wrong. It's my opinion that there is life outside of our planet.

[PatrickHenry]

SETI. Science list Ping! This is an elite subset of the Evolution list.
See the list's description in my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail me to be added or dropped.

[Shryke]

Question for you, regarding long distance communication (pardon, it's a silly one, but it still interests me):

Let's say we were interested in faster than light communication. Obviously radio won't cut it. However, if we were to build a "string" between two very far apart points, and apply small pulls to that string, would that allow a transfer of information faster than light? Just for arguments sake, let's assume that the "string" is made of a non-elastic material (carbon nanotube?).