Will SETI every find proof ?

[cosmic dave]

Will SETI every find proof of far off beings ? I saw a documentary a few years ago and they said it was coming in the next 10 years ! I for one would love to know we are not all alone before I die .

What do you guys think

[rll1288]

Unfortunately we are not alone..........as confimred by two touchy teenagers keep asking me.."Why is the image blurred and my friends Dad has a bigger telescope.....

One of my favourite books / Films was "Contact".....so it would be nice to find something within the next few years

[richbyers]

i think it will, but honestly i think that Europa holds a much richer field for alien life- cant wait till they send a lander under the ice

rich

[Demonperformer]

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that SETI "piggybacks" on other radio astronomy work. As most sources studied by radio telescopes are areas of high energy emissions, they seem unlikely places for any life to develop. As such, I can't help thinking that SETI is unlikely to find anything, whatever is out there.

[Earl]

SETI imo is a waste of time money and resources.

Focus all that effort on Cancer that will be beneficial.

[Kit-Fox]

Even if everyone in the world helped out & procfessed the immense backlog of recorded signals that the SETI project has on file, it is very unlikely that we will ever find a signal that proves extraterrestial intelligence.

And even if we do indeed find such a signal the intelligence that created it in all probabilty will be dead by the time the signal got to us and then factor in the time it would take to send any sort of reply (assuming that we would do that? Its a big risk) and you can bet with a 99% certainty that the Intelligence would be dead (especially if its biological)

Its a shame, but atm we just dont have the technology or ability to find ET just yet. We will eventually, but not just yet & yes I hope I do live to see it, but realism suggests I wont mores the pity.

[budski]

As an intelligent species we are fascinated with the notion that there might be ET's out there- but fearful for our survival should they ever come visiting. Just because they're technologically advanced doesn't mean they have to be nice 'people'.

Even if 'They' have developed mind-blowing techniques for detecting life signs around distant stars they might not have the means to travel here. What would be sad, however, is if a world much like our own was just on the edge of the Event Horizon and about to pass into our eternal night.

Wooo, I think I'll go and have a little drink .....

[JamesM]

My belief is that they are already here - I mean this lot running the country at the moment are most certainly from another planet!

If they do exist and are technologically advanced, there is some chance that they will know of our existence already but have clearly chosen not to contact us. To be honest, if they were to listen in on our radio and television broadcasts as indicators of how 'civilized' we are on earth - even I wouldn't bother (....X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, Eastenders, Steve Wright in the Afternoon ) In fact if they did arrive I would strongly request that they take me off this planet - maybe that's it, perhaps they might be anticipating so many requests for evacuation that they are convinced that they wouldn't be able to cope!!!!

Clear skies

James (...now seen escaping to his back garden flashing his laser pen skyward in order to get ahead in the queue!)

[Lowstar]

Steven Hawking`s assessment, although not a positive one, seems very plausible.

[johnkirkpatrick]

There's no way we are alone in the universe, There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand in all the beaches on Earth, I think its the distance between each and every Star and Galaxy that makes things hard however advanced they are even with that ability to travel 2,3 or 4 times the speed of light it would still take million and billions of years to get anywhere. I think were are prob one of the least advanced race's in our Galaxy nevery mind the Universe, The day will come when we do find out just not in our life lime, Well me thinks anyway.. ( time for another vodka lol)

[Ogri]

Personally I think any truly advanced life forms in the Universe would do everything in their power to be undetected and remain undetectable.

[Luke]

A quote from Sir Patrick Moore, I find him a bit more positive than Stephen Hawking here and hope he is right!!

"We may well ask why we are so keen to make contact. There are, however, some people who demur; claiming that far from making contact we should try to avoid it, and should do our best to conceal ourselves just in case we attract undesirable attention. It has been pointed out when relatively advanced beings encounter tribes of lesser development, the results are usually unpleasant (look at what happened to the Native Americans and Aborigines). To me this seems illogical, because races capable of interstellar travel would be genuinely intelligent, and would have long since abandoned warfare. They could no doubt teach us a great deal."

[mark7331]

I'm with DP. SETI is a total waste of space/time.

Yes, that was an astrophysics joke.......

Sorry.