SETI 'first contact'

[NightBringer (Seb)]

SETI
Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence


An anomalous, narrow-band burst of radio noise picked up on August 15, 1977, during SETI observations by the Big ear of the Ohio State University radio observatory.The signal, which lasted 37 seconds and came from the direction of Sagittarius, attracted the attention of Ohio State astronomer Jerry Ehman, who scrawled "Wow!" in the margin of the print-out. It was, said Ehman.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Wow_signal.jpg

If seti does make 'first contact' government protocol is to contact authorities regarding the signals, first pre-cautions would be to run analysis then can be deemed dangerous or safe and if it will be revealed to the public about the finding.

Going by what the government has denied/covered over the last 60-years I wouldn't expect any big announcements anytime soon.

Just wanted some opinions & thoughts on SETI


Reference:
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/Wow.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI

[Robh (Rob)]

I would hope that detection of ET intelligence would not be covered up.
It is highly unlikely that any transmitted signal would of itself be dangerous e.g. information to produce a lethal weapon. If as in our case, we were simply trying to make contact, it is more likely a cultural statement or an indication that another intelligent civilisation exists. I don't think receiving a signal puts us in any dangerous position and any reply is likely to take thousands of years to get back there anyway. However, the ramifications of making contact are important on an evolutionary and philosophical level. The fact that life could evolve elsewhere in the Universe is important to our understanding of biology and how the Universe works. The significance to established religion would be most interesting. Therefore, the onus to reveal to the world community would be a necessity in man's long-term growth and future potential i.e. space travel and the preparedness to meet and communicate with civilisations that are more, or less, advanced.

Regards, Rob

[renormalised (Carl)]

Rob...it could turn out to be very expensive. They may send us the bill for all the unpaid "telephone" calls we've been making in the last 50-100 years

The ITC (Interstellar Telecommunications Corp') likes to have its bills paid promptly

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Rob...it could turn out to be very expensive. They may send us the bill for all the unpaid "telephone" calls we've been making in the last 50-100 years

The ITC (Interstellar Telecommunications Corp') likes to have its bills paid promptly

Intelstra?

Maybe that's the problem... we didn't pay our bill years ago so we've been cut off for ages.

Al.

[marki]

Wouldn't it be funny if the first message was along the lines of "turn that bloody noise down"

Mark

[TrevorW]

Maybe it still hasn't reached us

[prenzi (Florian)]

G'day everyone,

Well I just wanted to add my 2 cents to this discussion and possibly bring it back to where it started. There are a number of interesting links on the web detailing what may have happened, some of them are:

http://www.planetary.org/news/2001/0...ll_Eludes.html

http://www.planetary.org/explore/top...istory_10.html

http://redrover.planetary.org/news/2...usive_Wow.html

In summary, the "discovery" could not be confirmed again, nor a similar signal picked up lateron.

Now to the interesting question: are we the only one out there ?

Statistically I'd say we're not, at least not the only life form; however, who guarantees that the other folks rely on similar modes of communication ? Maybe we've been missing each other already for decades.... .

Cheers, Florian

[TrevorW]

If a civilisation 1100 years ahead of us existed when we first transmitted electromagnetic signals and they are located 1101 light years from us it'll be another year before we pick up the signal, no ??

[Insane Climber (Jason)]

Hello, is there any one out there.

The way i see it is that if life is abundant in the universe, then given the very long amount of time that the universe has been in existence, there must be civilizations millions of years more advanced than us. So there can only be two reasons we have not heard anything. Either we are the only intelligent life out here, or communication is impossible.

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by TrevorW

If a civilisation 1100 years ahead of us existed when we first transmitted electromagnetic signals and they are located 1101 light years from us it'll be another year before we pick up the signal, no ??

Do you mean One hundred and Ten years

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

I used to be all for SETI, but have come to think of it as a colossal waste of time and money. If they're there, they're there. If not (as is probably the case), we'll never know as you can't prove a negative. To me the question of whether or not life, intelligent or otherwise, exists elswhere is even kind of dull. Its not communicating. Like living next door to someone famous that you never see - all well and good, but if they don't interact with you then what's the point?
OK, that's a little cynical. I suppose it would be interesting to know, but it wouldn't change anything.
After seeing the stunning images and data sent back by robotic probes from our own solar sytem, I've come to belive that this is where we should be concentrating our efforts. So much better and scientifically more useful data, is returned from these that we'll be spending years wading through it. I suspect that we will be uncovering hugely interesting questions about the evolution of planets and other bodies and really this is where we should be spending the money.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

I used to be all for SETI, but have come to think of it as a colossal waste of time and money.

Fortunately a lot of SETI can be piggy-backed on existing radio telescopes so the amount to spend on such research is far less compared to optical and robotic exploration.

SETI along with other forms of astronomy are all based on user preference and the passion we all feel when we look to the star in what ever way we want. That is the true beauty of astronomy.

Along as there are radio telescopes around there will always be SETI and it would be good to see if there is real intellegent life out there or whether we are destined to destroy ourselves into exstinction.