Tag: Search for extraterrestrial intelligence

Life on the Billionth Rock From the Sun | Seth Shostak

Seth Shostak has an article at HuffPost on asteroids.  Not the usual we-need-to-prepare-for-incoming, but discussing something I've noted before that the space age needs: an economic incentive.  As some of us have discussed, mining asteroids looks like it might be an excellent candidate. These rocks are a resource. The fact that they're in small chunks makes … Continue reading Life on the Billionth Rock From the Sun | Seth Shostak →

We might find extraterrestrial life soon, but intelligent life?

Forbes has an article up noting that many scientists, including Seth Shostak, are now saying that we could find intelligent extraterrestrial life in the next twenty years.  I definitely think we might find extraterrestrial life in that time frame, but I'm pretty skeptical that it will be intelligent. I've written about this before, but the … Continue reading We might find extraterrestrial life soon, but intelligent life? →

How far away is the closest extraterrestrial civilization?

First, let me be clear on what I'm talking about: intelligent aliens with an advanced civilization.  This is a different question than extraterrestrial life in general.  For life in general, particularly simple life, I'd be surprised if we'd have to look more than a hundred light years from Earth.  (We may know the answer to … Continue reading How far away is the closest extraterrestrial civilization? →

The End of the World: Science or Religion? | Seth Shostak

Harold Camping died last month. In case you don't remember, Camping, the president of evangelical Family Radio, predicted that the world would end in 2011. Twice. He made these prognostications on the basis of numerology, which sounds like it might be a sophomore-level math subject, but isn't. The data for the calculations Camping used to … Continue reading The End of the World: Science or Religion? | Seth Shostak →

When Will We Build the Starship Enterprise? | Seth Shostak

What if we could send humans anywhere at the speed of light, and at a rock-bottom price? That's eminently feasible if we send the information and not the protoplasm. No crew, just code. Consider: The human genome consists of about 3.3 billion base pairs. Since there are only four types of pair, that amounts to … Continue reading When Will We Build the Starship Enterprise? | Seth Shostak →

Beasts or gods; why a War Of The Worlds is very unlikely

One of the scenarios that is often played out in science fiction is what would happen if we encountered an alien civilization.  Often, we are portrayed as defending Earth from an alien invasion or fighting battles with the aliens in a war.  Another scenario, commonly found in more culturally introspective fiction, focuses on what our … Continue reading Beasts or gods; why a War Of The Worlds is very unlikely →

Why extraterrestrial civilizations may be exceedingly rare

There's been a lot of news lately about the estimate of habitable planets in our galaxy.  It sounds like there may be 40 billion planets in the habitable zones around their stars.  This is cool stuff!  The nearest one might be only  12 light years away. It's very tempting from this news, to conclude that … Continue reading Why extraterrestrial civilizations may be exceedingly rare →