88 replies to this topic

[Twin Peaks]

Just the fact that we are attempting to contact aliens , even with 'silly radio telescopes' , will tell advance space faring civilizations that we of planet Earth are not a solitary race, that we are attempting to not be alone in the Universe. That may be all that is needed for first contact.

[Cradle of Fish]

You have to also consider potential innovation SETI can contribute to the field of radio telescopes. We ought to have the best eye we can on the skies, there are numerous phenomena and objects out there that we should be documenting. Not every endeavour should be demanded to provide immediate results - for example we aren't being threatened by any impact events but we should be working on countermeasures against them.

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

Cradle of Fish, on 25 November 2012 - 07:14 AM, said:

You have to also consider potential innovation SETI can contribute to the field of radio telescopes. We ought to have the best eye we can on the skies, there are numerous phenomena and objects out there that we should be documenting. Not every endeavour should be demanded to provide immediate results - for example we aren't being threatened by any impact events but we should be working on countermeasures against them.

Every endeavour is NOT getting immediate results, and to wish that every endeavour would is in my eyes impossible..

[bison]

R4z3rsPar4d0x, on 23 November 2012 - 10:14 PM, said:

I guess Ill just google the question I posed earlier

  I didn't see this post, or the one to which it refers, until a moment ago. The 'wow signal' detected at Ohio State University in the 1970's has never been successfully ascribed to any terrestrial source, including space vehicles launched from Earth. Because of the way the duration of the signal matched that of the radio telescope beam passing through a fixed point in the sky, it is believed that the source was *at least* as distant as the Moon. Because the signal lasted for such a short time, and has never been observed to repeat, it was not possible to learn much about it. It remains a mystery, and possibly the closest we have come to detecting an intelligent, extraterrestrial signal.

Edited by bison, 26 November 2012 - 01:20 AM.

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

bison, on 26 November 2012 - 01:19 AM, said:

I didn't see this post, or the one to which it refers, until a moment ago. The 'wow signal' detected at Ohio State University in the 1970's has never been successfully ascribed to any terrestrial source, including space vehicles launched from Earth. Because of the way the duration of the signal matched that of the radio telescope beam passing through a fixed point in the sky, it is believed that the source was *at least* as distant as the Moon. Because the signal lasted for such a short time, and has never been observed to repeat, it was not possible to learn much about it. It remains a mystery, and possibly the closest we have come to detecting an intelligent, extraterrestrial signal.

Is it strange that it never repeated again?

[Ryu]

Imaginarynumber1, on 15 November 2012 - 11:10 PM, said:

I didn't realize that increasing our knowledge of the universe that we inhabit was a bad thing.

I never said that now, did I? So please don't pull that card on me.

Imaginarynumber1, on 15 November 2012 - 11:10 PM, said:

Besides, SETI has an entire R&D division that has developed new signal processing algorithms (that tech can be used for pretty much everything in our modern world) and have helped advance radio astronomy with new tech.  Not to mention all the engineers, technicians, scientists, pr people, administrators and even educators that they employ.

Plus, almost every self made computer millionaire invests in SETI. David Packard, William Hewlett, Gordon Moore (Intel), Paul Allen (Microsoft), Bill Gates, Barney Oliver (Founder HP Labs). In the past, these people have shown that they know where to make good investments.

And that means what exactly? So we have a bunch of dishes pointed at the sky trying to find "alien" signals and we assume they are using the same technology or even the same wavelengths as we do?
After all this time and we STILL haven't heard so much as a s****** in space. I am surprised that all these "heavy hitters" haven't even vaguely alluded to this. No wonder we aren't getting anywhere...if an alien civilization is using a frequency we haven't even begun to understand or even discover then we may as well be trying to use a system of strings and soup cans.

[Sweetpumper]

Ryu, on 26 November 2012 - 10:00 PM, said:

I never said that now, did I? So please don't pull that card on me.




And that means what exactly? So we have a bunch of dishes pointed at the sky trying to find "alien" signals and we assume they are using the same technology or even the same wavelengths as we do?
After all this time and we STILL haven't heard so much as a s****** in space. I am surprised that all these "heavy hitters" haven't even vaguely alluded to this. No wonder we aren't getting anywhere...if an alien civilization is using a frequency we haven't even begun to understand or even discover then we may as well be trying to use a system of strings and soup cans.

What better way to make a living pretending what you're doing matters and paying your salary through donations?  Hell, I wanna do that!  Sit around playing Galaga, only working to get that next big donation when the latest one starts running out.

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

Sweetpumper, on 26 November 2012 - 10:10 PM, said:

What better way to make a living pretending what you're doing matters and paying your salary through donations?  Hell, I wanna do that!  Sit around playing Galaga, only working to get that next big donation when the latest one starts running out.

I bet a LOT of people would love that job I know I would

[Imaginarynumber1]

Ryu, on 26 November 2012 - 10:00 PM, said:

I never said that now, did I? So please don't pull that card on me.




And that means what exactly? So we have a bunch of dishes pointed at the sky trying to find "alien" signals and we assume they are using the same technology or even the same wavelengths as we do?
After all this time and we STILL haven't heard so much as a s****** in space. I am surprised that all these "heavy hitters" haven't even vaguely alluded to this. No wonder we aren't getting anywhere...if an alien civilization is using a frequency we haven't even begun to understand or even discover then we may as well be trying to use a system of strings and soup cans.

You have no vision.

[Colonel Rhuairidh]

R4z3rsPar4d0x, on 26 November 2012 - 09:38 PM, said:

Is it strange that it never repeated again?

Not necessarily, i don't think; they (supposing that there was a 'They' for the moment) wouldn't have had any reason to aim a signal at us specifically, since there's no way that they'd have been able to detect any radio emissions from us, even if they were right next door, i.e. in the vicinity of Alpha Centauri (Carl Sagan was apparently mistaken there, and any non-directional signals would get far too dispersed to be traceable as a deliberate signal), so who knows, it may have been part of a program of shooting signals off in all directions just to see if it gets a response. And they wouldn't have anticipated any response straight away; this was only 35 years ago, which is only like day or two ago in astronomical terms.

[Colonel Rhuairidh]

Although I'm not sure whether it should be an encouraging sign or not that the Aliens apparently also play World of Warcraft.

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

747400, on 27 November 2012 - 09:23 AM, said:

Not necessarily, i don't think; they (supposing that there was a 'They' for the moment) wouldn't have had any reason to aim a signal at us specifically, since there's no way that they'd have been able to detect any radio emissions from us, even if they were right next door, i.e. in the vicinity of Alpha Centauri (Carl Sagan was apparently mistaken there, and any non-directional signals would get far too dispersed to be traceable as a deliberate signal), so who knows, it may have been part of a program of shooting signals off in all directions just to see if it gets a response. And they wouldn't have anticipated any response straight away; this was only 35 years ago, which is only like day or two ago in astronomical terms.

But the fact that it hasnt repeated again would lead me to believe that it was artificial and was not just a sound coming from the environment that is space. I mean dont sounds in space usually repeat themselves and have a rhythem to them?

[Colonel Rhuairidh]

R4z3rsPar4d0x, on 27 November 2012 - 08:14 PM, said:

But the fact that it hasnt repeated again would lead me to believe that it was artificial and was not just a sound coming from the environment that is space. I mean dont sounds in space usually repeat themselves and have a rhythem to them?

Yes, and that'd be in keeping with my suggestion. My suggestion was that it might perhaps have been an artificial signal, but not specifially directed at us and perhaps speculatively sent out, perhaps directed towards stars that might host habitable systems, just in the nature of sending it out in like a wide sweep to see if anyone notices.They wouldn't bother repeating it unless someone did respond; and they wouldn't know if anyone did respond for a perhaps quite few years. These ET programs probably work on quite long timescales.

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

747400, on 27 November 2012 - 08:27 PM, said:

Yes, and that'd be in keeping with my suggestion. My suggestion was that it might perhaps have been an artificial signal, but not specifially directed at us and perhaps speculatively sent out, perhaps directed towards stars that might host habitable systems, just in the nature of sending it out in like a wide sweep to see if anyone notices.They wouldn't bother repeating it unless someone did respond; and they wouldn't know if anyone did respond for a perhaps quite few years. These ET programs probably work on quite long timescales.

Okay yeah they wouldnt get it for a while thats even IF there still there

[bison]

The 'wow signal' may not have been intended for us. It didn't come from the direction of any readily identifiable star. For all we know it could have been a communications beam between two E.T. space vessels and Earth just happened to be, more or less, in the way, at the time. The fact that it was a very strong signal seems to point to a relatively nearby source.  
The philosophy of SETI is to listen with the technology that is available now, rather than to do nothing, waiting for some new means of communications to be invented some day. Even if we did this, we couldn't know that the next idea in communication would serve any better. It would seem to be a hopeless task to try to 'catch up with' a stellar civilization that may be thousands, millions or billions of years more technically advanced than we are. We have to trust that if they wish to communicate with a civilization at our level of development, they will adapt themselves to our limitations.
It is entirely possible than technical innovations make it possible for extraterrestrial civilizations to detect our present radio signals. Its been discussed scientifically, that the mass of a star could be used as a sort of lens to gather in and concentrate radio waves, allowing a remarkable increase in sensitivity.  
The issue of the lack of SETI results so far *has* been addressed. As it turns out, we have searched the equivalent of a glass full of water out of an ocean of possibilities.  If you dipped out a glass of water from the ocean and found no little fish in it, would you be justified in saying that there are no fish in the ocean, or that the whole idea of fishing was a waste and a deception?