Looks like this time ET is Phoning Elliot

[spaceboy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p046d6tl?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook

 

Or it could just be down to someone's TV dinner .....

[SteveNickolls]

At a time like this the prophetic words of Kent Brockman stand to ring true-"...It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they (the master race of giant space ants) will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is certain. There is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves."

Others may see it as a plot to cull excessive numbers of 'between jobs' TV personalities once the popularity of cooking shows fades.

Seriously though- interesting times.

Cheers,
Steve

[bejay1957]

From twitter feeds, Seth Shostak/SETI have said no..

[Knight of Clear Skies]

36 minutes ago, SteveNickolls said:

At a time like this the prophetic words of Kent Brockman stand to ring true-"...It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they (the master race of giant space ants) will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is certain. There is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves."

Sounds like it's more a case of:

"Well, this reporter was ... possibly a little hasty earlier and would like to reaffirm his allegiance to this country and its human president."

It was only detected by a single radio telescope and follow-up observations have seen nothing, as such it could easily be human interference. It's another media storm in a teacup I'm afraid. Signals like this are worth checking up on though, the goal is to find a repeating signal that can be detected by multiple instruments.

[Dave In Vermont]

I'm not going near this one, except to suggest getting the news from the proverbial horse's mouth:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/index.php

<POIT!>

Dave - Little Green Man

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

It is a bit odd the Russians took about a year to disclose it. A one-off signal does not an ET make, I am afraid.

[Pippy]

We want to and/or expect to see RF transmissions around the 1.42Ghz frequency from lifeforms similar to ourselves in both technology and stages of self destruction, which is where SETI mainly monitors (as far as I know).

The problem is, we ouselves rarely transmit on/around that frequency in order to keep it quiet/free for listening. What if said distance lifeforms are doing the same - we're all listening but not talking ?

It's true that we have in times gone past actually sent the odd transmission on said frequency, but from what I gather it's rare that we do.

[BritAngler]

Someone should report that radio signals have been detected that are definitely artificial coming from a planet known as Sol 3, orbiting a star very close to us. THEN see how many planks worth of thickness the media is    

[bejay1957]

9 minutes ago, BritAngler said:

Someone should report that radio signals have been detected that are definitely artificial coming from a planet known as Sol 3, orbiting a star very close to us. THEN see how many planks worth of thickness the media is    

Trying to recall which outer planet probe went by the Earth for a slingshot, but didn't detect life on the planet...

[spaceboy]

I don't get why we are looking for other intelligent life anyway ? I mean if they were all that intelligent they sure as hell wouldn't want to alert us to their presence. Since the dawn of so called "intelligent humans" we have done nothing but try to kill off our species through one conflict or another, killed animals for food, fur, sport or because we see them as a pest. We are consuming every natural resource, created mountains of junk here and in space, change the temperature of the globe no doubt due to the thousands of war mongering nukes that have been tested in the atmosphere (and of course using deodorant with CFC's )

Nope... I think if ET was ever to get in touch with us it would be for a planet in the goldilocks zone and not to have a chat with us humans over tea and cake. Couldn't hold it against them though I mean after all we are in search of another habitable planet to secure the survival of the human race and would do everything in our power to consume it just like with have with every other habitable place on the planet despite some species becoming extinct as a result. When you consider that racism still exists what would be the chances of us getting on with ET even if they did come in peace.

 

[Alien 13]

10 minutes ago, spaceboy said:

I don't get why we are looking for other intelligent life anyway ? I mean if they were all that intelligent they sure as hell wouldn't want to alert us to their presence. Since the dawn of so called "intelligent humans" we have done nothing but try to kill off our species through one conflict or another, killed animals for food, fur, sport or because we see them as a pest. We are consuming every natural resource, created mountains of junk here and in space, change the temperature of the globe no doubt due to the thousands of war mongering nukes that have been tested in the atmosphere (and of course using deodorant with CFC's )

Nope... I think if ET was ever to get in touch with us it would be for a planet in the goldilocks zone and not to have a chat with us humans over tea and cake. Couldn't hold it against them though I mean after all we are in search of another habitable planet to secure the survival of the human race would do everything in our power to consume it just like with have with every other habitable place on the planet despite some species becoming extinct as a result. When you consider that racism still exists what would be the chances of us getting on with ET even if they did come in peace.

 

I agree any intelligence would be listening on all frequencies, like a spider in its web and we would be no more than a source of food and resource but resource probably isn't an issue with water and elements are available everywhere.

Alan

P.S. I am old enough to remember the original outer limits episode "how to serve man".

[Pippy]

The trouble is, SETI's ways are somewhat floored, but it's OK. Keep at it SETI !

Any life forms out there in the big wide universe that may have desires in finding life forms like us (for whatever reason - if any), really don't need to listen for RF transmissions (or send them), because our atmosphere tells all of our presence - at the very least.

Secondly, I can only assume that our desire to find and contact other lifeforms out there, is because we currently feel ever so lost, and dearly need comforting, maybe a little justification (it'll never happen) for the horrors of life, and certainly some answers to boot.

Are we really sure we'd like to make friends with similar lifeforms such as ours (helpful at times, but ultimately war like and destructive and harmful in ways most really don't want to know) ?

I wonder what other reasons we might have for needing to find co-inhabitants of this apparent universe ?   What is it we're really looking for I wonder ?

[nightfisher]

"We come in peace to share our resources and technology"

Actually we come to earth to devour fat little humans yum yum..........i think we should be careful what we wish for, maybe earth should try to hide itself rather than sending signals, here we are 

[Alien 13]

We are curious and the detection of any advanced lifeforms would add to our model of the universe, thirty years ago it was thought that planets might be rare now every star probably has lots of them. The discovery of other independent life in our solar system would increase the probability of it being everywhere but at that point we need to start thinking about limiting our transmissions as Jules has said and maybe invest in tin foil hats.

Alan

[Pippy]

I suspect it's a little late for getting the foil out