To Be or Not to Be Signaling the Aliens: That Is the Question for SETI

[RKP5637]

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/be-or-not-be-signaling-aliens-question-seti-n305546

SAN JOSE, Calif. — For more than 50 years, scientists have been listening for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations, to no avail. Now some experts on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, think it's time for a sustained effort to send signals out to extraterrestrial civilizations, even though there's no sign of their existence. Others think that's a terrible idea.

"We should encourage ongoing, international discussions about Active SETI, even after the launch of sustained Active SETI projects," SETI Institute researcher Douglas Vakoch says in his proposal for communicating with aliens.

Physicist Stephen Hawking has argued against that strategy, saying that the signals could attract the bad kind of aliens depicted in movies ranging from "War of the Worlds" to "Independence Day." He imagines that our first contact with extraterrestrials could be like the Native Americans' first contact with Europeans, "which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."

In Hawking's view, it's better to lie low, and science-fiction author David Brin agrees. During sessions at this week's annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Jose, Brin faced off against Vakoch and the director of the SETI Institute's Center for SETI Research, Seth Shostak.

Over the decades, there have been a good number of signal sessions directed at distant aliens. The best-known is the Arecibo message, an intricately coded message that was sent in 1974 from the Puerto Rico dish toward a star cluster 25,000 light-years away. The Evpatoria radio telescope in Crimea sent out four "Cosmic Calls" between 1999 and 2008. Other projects have broadcast whale songs, Beatles tunes and Craigslist postings to the stars.

In the end, it comes down to this: If researchers with access to a radio telescope want to beam a message to a particular star, possibly piggybacking on radar observations of near-Earth objects, should there be someone else who decides whether or not the effort is too risky?

Shostak would hate to see high-powered radio transmissions vetoed by a popular vote.

[gordianot]

1. Some day they may want to buy your car or rent an apartment.

Not sure Craig's list is a good idea. They could also send a Sarah Palin speech with the message we have some technology but as to her example we have a long way to go before we are an intelligent species.

[RKP5637]

2. OMG, Sarah could say, "I can see space from my back porch!" She could be

the Supreme Protector. Aliens would say, "hey, there's no intelligent life down there, let's pass it by!"

[gordianot]

3. Sarah Palin protector of the Earth we should be grateful.