Royal Society and the search for ET

The Royal Society is working with others to mainstream the efforts to establish whether we are not alone. Sounds like a good idea considering the search for ET is often viewed as a bit of an anorak activity and not a scientific discipline in its own right. Perhaps the backing of such a prestigious body will help.

Speaking at the launch, Prof Hawking said: "Somewhere in the cosmos, perhaps, intelligent life may be watching these lights of ours, aware of what they mean.

"Or do our lights wander a lifeless cosmos - unseen beacons, announcing that here, on one rock, the Universe discovered its existence. Either way, there is no bigger question. It's time to commit to finding the answer - to search for life beyond Earth.

"We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know."

> BBC Source
> Royal Society info
> The cautionary note from Hawking

Didn't Hawking warn us that aliens were hostile and we should steer clear? Now he is promoting this effort, what has changed?

a reply to: paraphi

I can say only this...

It is about damned time.

You have to know a thing, before you can ascertain the threat it might pose, and how to mitigate it.

This is a central, and ancient philosophy, strung throughout the basis of modern thought, and indeed threat mitigation down the ages.

First fear communism, than fear terrorism, lastly fear aliens.

I find it quite telling how the guy who has started the initiative and is stumping up the cash hardly gets a mention in the BBC article.

Russian high-tech billionaire Yuri Milner teamed up with the world’s most famous scientist, British physicist Stephen Hawking, to announce a new $100 million effort to detect signals from alien civilizations.
The Breakthrough Listen initiative was unveiled Monday during a webcast from the Royal Society in London.
“It’s time to commit to finding answers to the search for life beyond Earth,” Hawking said.
www.geekwire.com...

Good luck too them.

originally posted by: TruMcCarthy
Didn't Hawking warn us that aliens were hostile and we should steer clear? Now he is promoting this effort, what has changed?

What he warned us about, was contact. Not seeking out the answer to an age old question. Which, by the way, some of our ancestors were convinced they already had the answer to.

In a series for the Discovery Channel the renowned astrophysicist said it was "perfectly rational" to assume intelligent life exists elsewhere. But he warned that aliens might simply raid Earth for resources, then move on. "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he said. Prof Hawking thinks that, rather than actively trying to communicate with extra-terrestrials, humans should do everything possible to avoid contact. He explained: "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."

Link

a reply to: TruMcCarthy

yes he did several times, my post from the other thread.

i'm close to putting hawkings into the class of which way the money blows. he doesn't know if he's coming or going. he has said this on more than one occasion.
Hawking: Aliens may pose risks to Earth Astrophysicist says extraterrestrials likely exist, but could be dangerous
My post

My post

a reply to: Klassified

he also said we should avoid them at all cost. i don't think that we can find them unless their technology level is about the same or lower than ours, maybe then we can sneak a peak without them knowing.

we have been listening and looking how long now, still no concrete proof. if we build more agressive means to do so or send out probes which we already have done, don't you think a more advanced race could not track it back.

Aliens Exist, and We Should Avoid Them At All Costs, Says Stephen Hawking

originally posted by: hounddoghowlie
he also said we should avoid them at all cost.

I suppose the logic is that if we don't know there's life then we don't know if we should hide!

This is exciting news no doubt, but let's remember to keep things (i.e. our imaginations) in perspective. Milner himself admits "It is quite likely that we won't find anything", but he acknowledges that it will at least allow us to put some limits on what is out there.

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

he also said we should avoid them at all cost.

Right. From my quote above...

Prof Hawking thinks that, rather than actively trying to communicate with extra-terrestrials, humans should do everything possible to avoid contact.

And I think he makes a good point. Just because another civilization might be more advanced than we are, doesn't mean they're suddenly benevolent. On the other hand, it doesn't mean they aren't.

i don't think that we can find them unless their technology level is about the same or lower than ours, maybe then we can sneak a peak without them knowing.

Interesting thought. As we grow technologically, we may discover ways to look, and signs to look for, we haven't heretofore considered. Which also speaks to your next statement...

we have been listening and looking how long now, still no concrete proof.

if we build more agressive means to do so or send out probes which we already have done, don't you think a more advanced race could not track it back.

This is a good question. Although we are not at the level of Star Trek yet, they may be. The Enterprise had ways of checking origins, and tracking things back to where they came from, we may well develop ourselves at some point. So it wouldn't surprise me if a species much more advanced than we, could reverse the trajectory, and come up with some good guesses as to where a probe or satellite came from.

Ignorance of the threat possibly posed by extra-terrestrial civilisations would never eliminate any such threat.

We've been broadcasting our presence too all and sundry for approaching a hundred years - I suspect that if there are technologically advanced alien civilisations out there then many will already be aware of our presence.

That they haven't already made their presence known, well officially speaking, suggests they either lack any ill intent or interstellar travel may not be that easy or even possible.....or maybe they are just biding their time?

Regardless, the search for knowledge has always been a driving force for mankind and the question of 'are we alone' in this universe is one of the most important and compelling of this age.

This initiative should be welcomed and encouraged....I just hope they will be open and transparent with all their findings.

This has to be amusing when icons of science announce the search for evidence of ETs when such evidence of ETs penetrating our planet's atmosphere on a daily basis gets totally ignored by scientists because they never acquired it in their laboratories. So they think that ETs millions of years in advance of current human technology would still use antiquated radio waves to communicate with themselves?! By ignoring what is staring them in the face in their back yards and by insisting on detecting only forms of evidence that with high probability don't exist, scientists guarantee their never finding ET.

Which is, of course, what they want.....

a reply to: micpsi

As it happens, it is wise to monitor the radio bands, because there is the chance that other systems used by extra terrestrial life, other than their communications systems, might give off radio waves. Radioteloscopy is still one of the best possible bets, when trying to see what else might be out there.

originally posted by: Rosinitiate
First fear communism, than fear terrorism, lastly fear aliens.

Pretty sure asteroids were in their somewhere, too.

Help me understand why this is different than SETI.

And.. . $100,000,000 doesn't seem very much to spend on this endeavor.

My opinion is that if ET wanted to be contacted or contact us on their own they would have done this long ago on their terms. Perhaps they already did.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for contact with a more intelligent race of beings. Gosh we do need help.

100 galaxies?? That's 4 trillion stars by average...

Just how exactly do they expect to sift through that volume of data?

originally posted by: Rosinitiate
First fear communism, than fear terrorism, lastly fear aliens.

That's because they're communists.

a reply to: Freeborn

Or we could simply not be that interesting or special to even consider. Do you talk to the ants in your back yard?

In any case, a lot of our general radio transmissions are likely just white noise. It has a tendency to deteriorate over great distances, like the ones we're discussing. You need to be pretty damn loud and have a lot of energy and bandwidth behind your signal to get your radio message anywhere. Which is why I have bigger hopes for Optical SETI.