Posted on 07/16/2002 7:40:55 AM PDT by Momaw Nadon
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Scientists searching the stars for aliens are convinced an E.T. is out there -- it's just that they haven't had the know-how to detect such a being.
But now technological advances have opened the way for scientists to check millions of previously unknown star systems, dramatically increasing the chances of finding intelligent life in outer space in the next 25 years, the world's largest private extraterrestrial agency believes.
"We're looking for needles in the haystack that is our galaxy, but there could be thousands of needles out there," Seth Shostak, the senior astronomer at California's non-profit Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ( news - web sites) (SETI) Institute, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
"If that's the case, with the number of new star systems we now hope to check, we should find one of those in the next 25 years."
But Shostak, visiting Australia to attend a conference on extraterrestrial research, said detecting alien life, like the big-eyed alien in the film E.T., was only the start.
"Even if we detect life out there, we'll still know nothing about what form of life we have detected and I doubt they'll be able -- or want -- to communicate with us," Shostak said.
Since it was founded in 1984, the SETI Institute has monitored radio signals, hoping to pick up a transmission from outer space. Its Project Phoenix conducts two annual three-week sessions on a radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
Project Phoenix, widely seen as the inspiration for the 1997 film "Contact" starring Jodie Foster, which depicted a search for life beyond earth, is the privately funded successor to an original NASA ( news - web sites) program that was canceled in 1993 amid much skepticism by the U.S. Congress.
But the search has been slow. About 500 of 1,000 targeted stars have been examined -- and no extraterrestrial transmissions have been detected.
E.T. NOT ON THE LINE
"We do get signals all the time but when checked out they have all been human made...and are not from E.T., more AT&T," said Shostak.
He said the privately-funded institute was developing a giant US$26 million telescope to start operating in 2005 that can search the stars for signals at least 100 times faster.
The so-called Allen Telescope Array, named after sponsor and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is a network of more than 350, six-meter (20-foot) satellite dishes with a collecting area exceeding that of a 100-meter (338-foot) telescope.
The Allen array, to be built at the Hat Creek Observatory about 290 miles northeast of San Fransciso, will also expand the institute's stellar reconnaissance to 100,000 or even one million nearby stars, searching 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Shostak said he is convinced there is intelligent life out there -- but don't expect to find a loveable, boggle-eyed E.T..
He said if any aliens share the same carbon-based organic chemistry as humans, they would probably have a central processing system, eyes, a mouth or two, legs and some form of reproduction.
But Shostak thinks any intelligent extraterrestrial life will have gone light years beyond the intelligence of man.
"What we are more likely to hear will be so far beyond our own level that it might not be biological anymore but some artificial form of life," he said. "Don't expect a blobby, squishy alien to be on the end of the line."
also check out Bob Frissell and his work on sacred geometry. amazing.
two days ago I downloaded this image, after reading the book.
Even the cargo cult folks living on the South Pacific had more reason for the return of the military with all their goodies than for supposedly rational folks who actually think we will find some ET out there. The chance of finding intelligent life somewhere else in the Universe ranks somewhat below the chance of David Osborne being elected Senator from Florida.
Why don't you try it yourself genius? I'd bet you couldn't due it with a team of helpers with unlimited time, let alone 4 hours. And I mean make it PERFECT, as in the original crop circle.
The self-righteous indignation of folks like YOU who can't ascertain the wheat from the chaff makes ME want to spew. Just because something goes against your preconcieved notion of what is possible and what isn't, you think people with more insight are fools. You'd probably have believed the Earth was flat if you were born several centuries ago, and you more than likely would have ridiculed those who thought otherwise.
Any other kind of life is just pure speculation. It is not based on fact. Look, I really wanted it to be the other way. I wanted a Star Trek universe ever since I was a kid. Alas, the facts (so far at least) overwhelmingly point in a different direction. Hang on to your speculation if it brings you comfort- and ping me right away if they do find what you are looking for. I will rejoice with you.
Please see http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/design_evidences/20020502_solar_system_design.html?main
to understand the factual reasons for my position. This is not the way I wanted it to be. If we are not alone it is a miracle.
Not only that, it doesn't fit.
That WOULD be an interesting twist wouldn't it? I find it even MORE interesting though that Scientific American felt it necessary to launch a preemptive strike to debunk the film before it's even released. I can't wait to see the movie, it must contain some seriously thought provoking material.
Incidently, what do you think of the derivation of the crop circle from a Tetractys(which the author misspelled as Tetractys)?
(Looking forward to this one, actually. For as good as The Sixth Sense was, I liked Unbreakable even more.)
I've never seen Unbreakable, but after just looking it up on the web, I think I'm going to be renting it soon...
I don't have my own crops to experiment with, so I'd have to be flattening someone else's attempt to make a living in my messing around. Just now, I don't feel like being that sort of person.
The self-righteous indignation of folks like YOU who can't ascertain the wheat from the chaff makes ME want to spew. Just because something goes against your preconcieved notion of what is possible and what isn't, you think people with more insight are fools. You'd probably have believed the Earth was flat if you were born several centuries ago, and you more than likely would have ridiculed those who thought otherwise.
The standard spew from someone whose delusional system is under attack. The burden of proof isn't on me here. I know you don't think so, but trust me on this. It's on the people who say the circles have anything to do with ET.
As the article said, if undergraduates can do it, you don't need aliens. If you don't need aliens, it's unjustified to put them in. (That's what that "Occam's Razor" stuff is all about.)
ET--not.
Brian.
That could be an ET phenom.
Brian.
That were easily identified as hoaxes. Nobody can make the real ones, at least nobody from this place and time.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Brian.
If I had to bet I would go with the Nephilim.
Brian.
Honestly, it just leaves you speechless.
Would that were true.
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