Paul Allen Searching

What? beta-max is outa style? Kiss alive on 8 track = tres bien!!!

Originally posted by Gazrok
Yep, but don't forget the possibility that the aliens just might have stopped USING the radio and gone to something else...much the same way as we no longer use Betamax tapes or the 8-Track...

Don't forget, we are rapidly getting away from using radio waves for communication, and what is broadcast is going digitial. This means that the analog radio signals will dissapear within the next 10 years or so. The implication is that any radio waves emanating from Earth will be digitally encrypted, and won't be decipherable to anyone listening. Applying this in reverse, any signals from other sentient races would more than likely be digitally encrypted also, and therefore indecipherable to us!

The military uses burst transmissions - very short, high density multi-spectrum broadcasts. The chances of picking up this signal are just about zero, even if you are looking for it (this is on purpose of course). The point is that this is a very efficient way of sending information, and this is how many of our digital communications are going. With optical fiber, they are continuously finding ways to add new wavelengths of light to the same fiber line, which increases the communication density dramatically.

Anyway, the point is we rapidly moved from analog, open broadcasts to digitally encrypted ones in less than 90 years. So unless we happen across a nearby race that is early in its technological development the chances of SETI being successful are near 0. Having said that, I have the SETI program running on three computers at my house just in case!!!

I guess most of you have not gather the point of this thread. It make take miilions of years for a signal to get to us from a distant planet. Why bother when most of us believe they are already here. So why is Paul Allen doing this? From recent posts, he appears to be a nice man and should give this money to helping cure cancer which is good for mankind. With all of the money he has spent , Why not put a satelite into space to search the heavens or the earth. (His own Spyware)

Yes as I have stated, IMO the only reason for SETI is for some type of disclouser to the public. Yes they will probably find something from a designed plan given to them.

Originally posted by Gazrok

Again, there are PLENTY of reasons SETI is still a valuable project, even if we are truly being visited on a regular basis... Am I the only UFOlogist that thinks this way???

It does seem a little strange to me Gazrok, that someone such as yourself that believes the government already has knowledge that ET's exist would waste your time supporting SETI.

Although, I can understand some of your reasons for it being valuable--mainly the fact that we could discover ET life on our own if the government refuses to tell us what they know.

Personally, for the most part I think SETI is a waste of time (I cant say I liked the attitudes of the SETI representitives on the Jennings special either but that's something for another discussion). I also believe the government has knowledge of ET's and that may be part of the reason they stopped funding the SETI project all those years ago. It's possibly the same reason for shelving Blue Book. If they already know, why would they waste anymore time with this sort of thing other than to convince the public as well that it's a waste of time?

WE HAVE LIFT OFF - THE SATELLITE IS BEGINNING ITS SEARCH

The switch has been thrown on a telescope specifically designed to seek out alien life.

Funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the finished array will have 350 six-metre antennas and will be one of the world's largest.

The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) will be able to sweep more than one million star systems for radio signals generated by intelligent beings.

Its creators hope it will help spot definite signs of alien life by 2025.

First light

The ATA is being run by the Seti Institute and the Radio Astronomy Laboratory from the University of California, Berkeley, US

"For Seti, the ATA's technical capabilities exponentially increase our ability to search for intelligent signals, and may lead to the discovery of thinking beings elsewhere in the Universe," said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Seti Institute in a statement.

On 11 October, the first 42 dishes of the array started gathering data that will be analysed for signs of alien life and help with conventional radio astronomy.

The first test images produced by the array are radio maps of the Andromeda Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy...

BBC SOURCE

Hope they find something and report back to the general public.