Comments on: Should We Search for Extraterrestrial Life? https://habitablezone.com/2022/09/11/should-we-search-for-extraterrestrial-life/ Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:41:18 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/09/11/should-we-search-for-extraterrestrial-life/#comment-50981 ER Sun, 11 Sep 2022 23:52:26 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=97246#comment-50981 I'm not sure I accept this argument. Its true, we've been broadcasting radio and microwaves into the Galaxy for about a century now, but the speed of light suggests we've not really made our presence known very effectively. Some of our signals, like Dew Line radar emissions, may be audible over the noise a hundred years out or so, but I suspect ET won't be exposed to Desi and Lucy or the Honeymooners, even if they were able to decode our TV scans. Up to a hundred light years, not only is there unlikely to be an audience, the signal will be too weak to stand out above the static, no matter how sensitive ET's receivers are. Some of our deliberate transmissions, broadcast on tight beams from big radio telescopes, have the potential to be picked up hundreds, even thousands of light years away. But it is highly unlikely there will be an alien civilization listening when our signal flashes by. Its not so much a question of technology as it is one of dumb luck. I’m not sure I accept this argument. Its true, we’ve been broadcasting radio and microwaves into the Galaxy for about a century now, but the speed of light suggests we’ve not really made our presence known very effectively. Some of our signals, like Dew Line radar emissions, may be audible over the noise a hundred years out or so, but I suspect ET won’t be exposed to Desi and Lucy or the Honeymooners, even if they were able to decode our TV scans. Up to a hundred light years, not only is there
unlikely to be an audience, the signal will be too weak to stand out above the static, no matter how sensitive ET’s receivers are.

Some of our deliberate transmissions, broadcast on tight beams from big radio telescopes, have the potential to be picked up hundreds, even thousands of light years away. But it is highly unlikely there will be an alien civilization listening when our signal flashes by. Its not so much a question of technology as it is one of dumb luck.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/09/11/should-we-search-for-extraterrestrial-life/#comment-50980 ER Sun, 11 Sep 2022 23:28:03 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=97246#comment-50980 I suggest you review previous entries in the Space/Science pages here on the Zone. I also suggest you review the essay in centauri-dreams,org, A Seti Reality Check: https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2020/07/03/a-seti-reality-check/ Both the essay and the critical reader comments are a good intro to the subject--for both sides of the question. I suggest you review previous entries in the Space/Science pages here on the Zone.

I also suggest you review the essay in centauri-dreams,org, A Seti Reality Check:

https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2020/07/03/a-seti-reality-check/

Both the essay and the critical reader comments are a good intro to the subject–for both sides of the question.

]]> By: BuckGalaxy https://habitablezone.com/2022/09/11/should-we-search-for-extraterrestrial-life/#comment-50978 BuckGalaxy Sun, 11 Sep 2022 21:20:10 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=97246#comment-50978 I didn't listen to the broadcast but I have heard this debate a number of times. Extraterrestrial life, of course we should look for it. And we don't have to look far. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn's moons. The clouds above Venus. Extraterrestrial intelligence is trickier, because of the implications, but I would argue that we are already doing that indirectly by broadcasting our entire civilization out to the universe, so yes we should search for intelligence as well. I didn’t listen to the broadcast but I have heard this debate a number of times. Extraterrestrial life, of course we should look for it. And we don’t have to look far. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn’s moons. The clouds above Venus. Extraterrestrial intelligence is trickier, because of the implications, but I would argue that we are already doing that indirectly by broadcasting our entire civilization out to the universe, so yes we should search for intelligence as well.

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