Sunday, August 01, 2010

SETI

So awhile ago I ranted about one of my pet peeves: Fermi's Paradox, which I discussed in two posts here and here.

In the comments, Larry mentioned that we should have anecdotal evidence for life and used alien "I love Lucy" reruns as an example.

This is something I've heard before, and my hypothesis was that perhaps alien technology is very different from the signals we use.

Turns out, there's a better explanation!

I just heard an interview with a SETI scientist on Dr. Kiki's Science Hour, and he said that due to SETI's very limited funds and manpower, they have concentrated very specifically on high-powered "WE ARE HERE" signals, intended to get someone's attention.

He said SETI's equipment could detect TV signals bleeding out into space at a distance of less than one light year.

2 comments:

Larry Clapp said...

So all we need to do is move our solar system to the galactic core and we're good to go, SETI-wise. ;)

Vigilance said...

Well, he seemed confident there were "HEY WE'RE HERE" signals to find in a relatively short time (which he defined as a few decades).

He also said that their capabilities, though modest, were conforming to Moore's Law, doubling every two years.

So he felt that even if they didn't find a "wow signal", their abilities would eventually expand to cover the rest.

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