WP,pg1: Finding Support in the Search for E.T.

[DeepModem Mom]

Finding Support in the Search for E.T.
With Stronger Telescope and Renewed Vigor, Scientists Scan the Sky

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 30, 2005; Page A01


HAT CREEK, Calif. -- Astronomer Michael M. Davis checked his computer. One of the antennas on the state-of-the-art radio telescope being built in the valley outside his office was picking up an unusual pulse from beyond the Earth. A signal from another intelligent civilization? Not today. It was the Rosetta Satellite, en route to study a comet.

Hopeful moments followed by disappointments like this are par for the course for researchers at the SETI Institute, the privately funded successor to the now defunct government project dedicated to searching for alien life. They have been searching the heavens for decades, but they have not been able to gather enough data to conclude, or even guess, whether we are alone in the universe.

This time, however, the scientists hope things might be different. This month, the first telescope designed specifically for such a search began scanning the skies. It is still in its early stage of development, but when it is completed the telescope will be so powerful that it will be able to look at more stars in a year or two than we have in the past 45 years....

***

Denounced a decade ago as a misguided effort to find "little green men" and cut off from government funding, SETI, which stands for search for extraterrestrial intelligence, has found a new following among Silicon Valley titans and techies elsewhere who are interested in space. They have infused the institute with money and unconventional technical ideas, bringing a new respect and energy to the organization. Some argue that being cast away by the federal government was the best thing that could have happened to SETI, that it has become stronger and more innovative in the private sector than it ever could have as part of a public bureaucracy....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/29/AR2005052900966.html

[truthisfreedom]

1. what a wonderfully uplifting article. now let's just hope that whomever

is out there doesn't have a 'thug government.

[Melodybe]

2. Ever notice that lefties feel the same way about aliens

as the right does about angels.

The existance of either would prove we are not all alone in this giant universe, but the existance of aliens would end a lot of annoying religious arguments. If they ever showed up I plan on asking every fundie I know, "if god loves us so damn much why did he give them the cool ships that travel at the speed of light?"

Cool article, thanks for posting it.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Whatever is found ...

... it is not likely to conform to anyone's idea of what non-Earthly life is supposed to be.

For instance, in the Bible alone, angels are described no fewer than four different ways. And that's nothing compared to the serious UFO-contactee literature.

The "contact experience" may indeed be genuine, but the interpretations are likely to be disparate and "non-logical". I, for one, would guess that contacting aliens or angels involves no actual contact at all; rather, it's a purely internal experience -- internal to the psyche.

And personally, I can't decide which scares me more. The day it happens to me, I will be sure to ask what it really is -- right after I'm done cowering in dread.

:scared:

--p!

[KittyWampus]

7. Most Of The Left Would NEVER Accept The Existence Of 'Alien' Intelligences

NEVER.

The Left is largely filled with psuedo-skeptics who pretend to be open-minded but are as set in their orthodoxy as the Fundies.

Many would point to the latest 'debunking' by the fraudster 'Randi' and refuse accept any proof that stopped short of a 'double blind experiment'.

[struggle4progress]

12. There must be thousands of "intelligent" species out there, choking ..

.. (just like us) on the toxic waste products of their "advanced civilization" and busily trying to poison their planets and themselves into extinction long before they have any chance of interstellar travel ...

[oneighty]

9. There is an obscure Science Fiction book

wherein the Alien invaders of Earth are led by our very own God because as you suggest our God loved them better than us.

180

[symbolman]

3. Man, I've been hoping the aliens would show up

and SAVE US from Bush Co - I'd almost rather be eaten by them rather than have to submit to hateful malevolent creatures from Earth pretending to be human while they kill and rob everyone.

Bush herded onto an Alien ship and THOROUGHLY EXAMINED then served up for lunch would the the ultimate in irony - tho I've been waiting for the media to honor him as the King of the Universe any day now.

JUst one alien culture that would tell him, "Who's bad NOW motherf*cker?" :)

[Solly Mack]

4. SETI@Home. Run the program from your computer

http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/


I know people that have been doing this for years.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Thanks for the link, Solly --

[Deja Q]

5. Here's the problem I have:

Let's say we pick up the transmissions from the Calufranians that are 1000 light years away.

That means we're eavesdropping in on 1000 year old chatter.

Does it matter what we find? They're too far away to make contact, never mind the information being 1000 years out of time.

The galaxy is honkin' huge. It's reasonable to say that only the outer rim could contain habitable planets, due to a side berth of space. (the closer you get to the center, the more dense the galaxy is. Easier for natural cataclysms to wipe out any developing life.) All of this means anybody space travelling either has to go along the long way or has found a way to traverse two-way wormholes.

We know that we're not going to really pursue space travel because of the costs involved (never mind safety, but that's always second fiddle by comparison.)

Besides, if Title 14, section 1211 of Code of Federal Regulations makes it illegal for us to trade recipes with little green men, they must already exist and come to our sad planet. Besides, they already spent their money. Why should Americans spend ours?

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Don't speak too soon!

We haven't discovered everything.

Not yet, anyway.

Even Hawking now thinks that wormholes are destructive non-singularities. Mind you, it presupposes Hawking's cosmology is correct in all its details, which is unlikely -- as even Hawking has admitted, and his mentor, Fred Hoyle, insisted. :)

On the other hand, there is more than enough universe within a few light-hours' time for us to explore for decades, if not centuries. Why we are not doing it, is the real mystery to me. And in the shadow of potential resource crises here on Mother Earth, the fact that we are spending 35 times' the space-exploration budget on the "consumable products" of warfare alone is scandalous.

--p!

[daleo]

11. I think it would have interesting philosophical ramifications

I doubt it would trouble many religious people, especially if there was no real prospect of meaningful contact. They would just find a vague passage in Revelations (or whatever) and say they knew this all along. Either that, or they would say it was Satan's temptations.

But, I suppose it would help clarify some issues in biology, etc.