In the next two dozen years, the Allen Telescope Array will parse the nearest thousand light-years of space. If there are other occupants of this galactic neighborhood, we could turn up a signal. What if that day comes??

Then what..!?

Seti practitioners and astronomers have no policy of secrecy, as far as I know and there are many in other contrys that the US, and consequently any intriguing signals they find are quickly noted by the media.

The biggest discovery of all time would result in big headlines in the morning newspapers, followed by a blistering stream of radio and TV reports? Would a real discovery of extraterrestrials occasion a breakdown in public order?

I dont think so......

In the 17th century, when early telescopes were revealing great clouds of stars, French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote that the enormity of space terrified him. "Space is enormous. To learn that others are out there would be a comfort".


What do you think would happen if SETI "strikes gold"..?

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I still await the compelling Exhibit A.

I certainly hope I see the day when this happens. It would be the greatest discovery and would dominate headlines and conversations everywhere. I can just see everyone on this site going nuts with posting their thoughts.

I personally don't think it would cause mass hysteria or public disorder. If anything, it should unite people from all over the world. For once, people from all over the world will have a feeling of being on the same side. It should also provide the motivation and increased funding needed to advance our space programs drastically.

This topic makes for great discussion because it spawns many other questions such as:

Should we attempt a response or wait? Why or why not?

If yes, what should our response be?

Yeah, on this site. But, we're more imaginative than most. Look at the drek we normally find fascinating.

In the mass media, it would get a few days, maybe a week like the 9/11 coverage, and then when everything had been said, and people realized that a conversation wasn't to be expected any time soon, it would fade away and Britney Spears would regain her rightful place in the headlines.

"Let us know if they say anything important -- like what they think of Britney!"

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0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0....

If they are intelligent beings, I don't think we would survive what they think of Brittany.

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SETI post-detection protocol.

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"As truth is gathered, I rearrange,
Inside out, outside in - Perpetual change." - A British rock band

has the cloned Elvis fleet been detected already?

I would never have a sad day again!
Once, when I was a little younger, I was at camp and a computer was doing the SETI@home screensaver. I already knew what SETI stood for, so I watched the screen, intently.
"If I see a spike, this will no longer be a question. It will be an answer! And all the fictions and suppositions and dreams and theories will pale before this, the truth! Nothing will ever be the same!"
I saw nothing. But I will not give up.

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"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

I doubt that it would cause the majority of the world's people to do that. Most are too deeply entrenched in their "us/them" thinking to let a little thing like aliens make them love their neighbors.

It's like the old scenario (Outer Limits? Twilight Zone? One of those...) about a cabal of scientists who fake an alien invasion to give mankind a "common enemy" to bond over. But a more realistic example would be World War Two; the U. S., Soviets, France, China, etc. all put aside their differences for a while, and then once the immediate threat was over, went right back to hating each others' guts.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

This is a subject that I have thought about many a time. At the moment, and for the forseeable we can only determine two possible answers to the question "Is there any intelligent life out there?"

1. "We don't know" - we have no way of knowing, and not even any clues whether life in ANY form exists anywhere other than on this one planet..... so far ....

2. "Yes" - but we will only know that this is true IF we ever receive a transmission of some sort (probably through SETI) that is proved to be non earth based and of intelligent origin.

I don't think we will ever be able to determine whether the answer is "No", because that would require us to search the entire Universe star by star and planet by planet, and be quite sure we found no sign if intelligent life. Even finding signs of life, such as algae like substances could mean that given several million years there could be higher forms of life, and possible intelligence eventually .....

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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not Eureka! (I found it!) but rather, 'hmm.... that's funny...'
- Isaac Asimov

Are we alone in the Universe? Are we the only intelligent life? Who knows? But the universe is so BIG, it somehow seems such a waste of space if we are ....

Despite what some CT might expect (especially if they watched The X-Files) this protocol is not a classified government document stashed in a safe.

Theres no sealed envelope to be ripped open.

The text can be found on many websites and is straightforward and unsurprising. It states that scientists making the discovery should first do all they can to prove that the signal is truly extraterrestrial, then alert other astronomers (who would turn their telescopes to the new find), inform the government and tell the public.

The biggest discovery of all time would result in big headlines in the morning newspapers, followed by a blistering stream of radio and TV reports?

SETI practitioners and astronomers have no policy of secrecy, and consequently any intriguing signals they find are quickly noted by the media.

Would a real discovery of extraterrestrials occasion a breakdown in public order?

This seems highly unlikely to me. Picking up a signal from space is different from watching aggressive aliens land in the pastures. Its difficult to imagine galactic beings would ever charge across the dark deserts betwen the stars merely to harass the inhabitants of a small planet.

To detect a signal from other worlds would be wondrous. It would show that the appearance of life on this world and its slow, uncertain path to us - creatures that can comprehend their own existence - is not some improbable miracle, but a frequent occurrence.

In the 17th century, when early telescopes were revealing great clouds of stars, French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote that the enormity of space terrified him.




"Space is enormous. To learn that others are out there would be a comfort".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal

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I still await the compelling Exhibit A.

I think Carl Sagan in "Contact" had the typical reactions - including all the loonies screaming and marching in the desert outside the radio telescopes - pretty much done in a realistic fashion.

The woo-woos would be out to get their 15minutes of TV-fame and unfortunately some would probably resort to violence when they realize what had been done to their preconceived notions.

....but like the Flat-Earthers, history will only leave them in the footnotes.

We have found lots of signals. The problem is failure to confirm = reasonable doubt. When we receive the same signal at 8 wide spread locations, the doubt then is: is this natural or sentient. Generally we assume a single unvaring frequency has to be sentient, but does it? How many parts per trillion variation is allowed? Does the amplitude also need to be steady? Could SETI detect even strong single sideband modulation, if the carrier is surpressed 100 db? In recent years, high power human comunication has used FM/FM and other complex modulation algorisms. ET may use systems we have not even thought about.
Let's suppose we record what appears to be data, video or audio. Can we translate it into English or something comprehencible to average humans? A few experts claim they have a good translation. Do we believe their translation is correct or even in the ball park? Some will believe; some will cry conspiracy. Most will sit on the fence rather than panic. I can't check the validity of the translation of Egyptian hyroglifics, can you? Most experts seem to be of the opinion that Sitins translations are worthless. The bottom line is: Few will believe sufficiently to change their life style significantly.
An other possibility is ET has been orbiting Earth about a million kilometers away for several decades, watching and listening to our transmissions. ET now knows a hundred of our languages and dialects and understands human nature and culture far better than most humans understand. Shortly ET will begin broadcasting to Earth with radio and TV programs which humans will find more interesting than the trash the mainstream media feeds us. Then common folks will learn, and modify their behavor in desirable ways. Perhaps even some of the intellegencia will be modified and improved. After a few decades of this brainwashing, we may happily allow millions of ET to land and intigrate into Earth's society. The long term results will likely be a mix of good bad and indifferent. If ET is intelegent enough to get here, they are likely wise enough to collonize Earth with a minimum of confrontation with us, the indigionous population. Neil

Undoubtedly so, however, the issue of signal translation is different to signal detection. It is possible to analyze a signal for information content without necessarily knowing how to decode it or knowing what it is actually saying. The former is way easier to accomplish than the latter, but you need to start with detection.

What if we could decode the message and it said "greetings from earth". That would be trippy, eh?

Damn, you're right. Does this forum have an emergency plan for the traffic explosion on D-day?

The long-term impact of such a discovery might still be huge,
it would change the general worldview (philosophy, religion, etc)

Just think of similar discoveries in the past:
- Earth is round
- Earth is NOT the center of the universe
etc

Just look what happend when they found those fossil like structures on that Martian meteor. There will be skeptics until there's real hard evidence for ET life.

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Fields of Space

LOGIC, n.
The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.

In the Year 2525.

"One small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind".

If an astronaut doesn't need good grammar, niether does you.

Host of Seraphim

One of our signals sent in the 1970's bounced off the wall and back to us.

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Spock Jenkins of the Vulcan Jenkins'.

Just where do you think all those Viagra spam emails have really been coming from?

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The views expressed are the febrile product of an overactive imagination of a person who in shadows sees the gyrating Elvis-like ghost of Leonid Brezhnev.

"Move, Earth! You're blocking my view of Venus! Oooh, that makes me so angry..."

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort