SETI Should Rethink its "Point and Listen" Strategy

You are right there. Probably the reason why aliens don't even want to talk to us, let alone visit us, is because after receiving stray transmissions from reality shows, game shows, conspiracy theory spouting over-unity nutcases, and self-proclaimed Messiahs and alien abductees, they've come to the conclusion that there is no intelligent life on Earth. Either that, or these ridiculous transmisions have led them to think the Earth is a planetary-sized psychiatric asylum for a technologically-advanced civilization, so they are looking elsewhere for the real intelligent life.

Hi Roger,

"So after 50 years, why hasn't SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) found anything?

As far as the radio receiver goes it could be because they have the bandwidth set too low. They are using 8.4 million channels with a bandwidth of only 0.05Hz each. Here is a link about it:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/amir-alexander/southernseti_260207.html

I have a very smart friend who is a radio amateur (ham). He said that it takes more bandwidth than that to hear Morse code (I can't remember the amount he said).

A few years ago I read that 40 million Americans think they have been abducted by aliens! Well, I guess we are not listening, then.

S

"So after 50 years, why hasn't SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) found anything?

Simple reason:

If I ask anybody, why our last generation could not detect the intelligent life anywhere in the universe?... answer will be last generation ws not sufficiently developed to detect any of such signals.

Correct.

We are also not yet sufficiently developed to detect the very small signals may be coming from many wheres from the universe.

Read Carl Sagan's "Cosmic Connection". All he says that what we and our scientist assume till now (even today) that there should be particular temperature band, existance of oxygen and water etc. are our chauvinism. Universe doesn't and is not following our thinking. By we have to think how universe is behaving.

What you say is correct: SETI should rethink its strategy.

And who says that ET's use radio signals at all ? Maybe they communicate with smells ?

Who says that ET's waist energy into space ?

Maybe ET's are just amongst us, but we (or they) don't have any ways (sound, vision, smell, touch, radio etc.) to communicate with eachother ?

Who says ET's are "made of" atoms and molecules ?

I think it's gonna be very hard to "find" ET's... But it is good that organisations like SETI exist and do their thing... At least the energy and technology they use is peaceful and not used for weapons or wars ...

Peace men !

You said it. These are additional point to what Carl Sagan said. Thanks 44

Roger P..Its a big place this universe and a small place (fusion etc.) Closest star is several light years away...closest discriminated planet is about 8 light years away..Signals radio or otherwise have ample opportunity to go astray and finding them would require focusing of some kind which radio dishes do in a way but we are talking huge dillutions...Orbiting radio receivers/transmitters should have a clearer window but still very big spaces and impediments involved..Massive systems(Stars)do bend light and no doubt other EMS wave functions and no doubt what comes around is distorted so on minute scale even the almost vacum of space over such large distances must distort signals.Solution ever more sensitive pots to discriminate from background noise..So 50 years out 100 years return trip for signals if received..More than an average well feed/housed etc. human lifetime..

Life on earth is stubborn but at the same time fragile..Doesn't take much change in pH,O2 tension etc to kill it permanentlly...The earth and its lively nature is like a fragile crystal with the wrong resonance capable of shattering even the most stubborn agglomeration of Carbon/nitrogen/oxygen/phosphorous etc..At the end of the day it ,including life ,is a mystery that we,humanity,have the joy of trying to understand and hopefully we will connect with other sentient globs of matter that also share in the joy of trying to understand more than basic comfort.

Regards...Marty W.

I may be biased, But if we are the only semi intelligent life in the Milky Way, What a waste of a lot of Space.

Another possibility is a very advanced life form lives in our neck of the woods and any predatory stellar life forms stay away because of them. That would mean they find our BS amusing or their kids do. "Honey absorb your nutrients, you don't want to develop into an earthling do you?

It is my opinion that low level intelligent species(such as ours) only use radio wave (if at all) for a short time. Either they self destruct or grow into more advanced beings that don't use the band width they way we do.

If entangled electrons could be entangled permanently who would need radios? Data and power could be sent instantly any where. We have no idea how entangled particles talk so we would not know what to listed for or if you can.

Just thought for food

Brad

UV Thanks for the insight:

I'd never heard the term entangled electrons before..Checked it out with a google search and read some of the articles readily available...Curiouser and curiouser this exists becomes at an ever accelerating rate........Thanks again..Marty W.

I agree they sould reset to run robotic mining operations on the moon then mars.