SETI - A critical overview
Created | Updated May 29, 2005
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) programme appears to be, absurdly, a secular form of religion (organized system of ideas and practices for people who are interested in finding their place in the universe) founded by Carl Sagan. Practically speaking, the SETI program uses a network of radio observatories to search the skies for transmissions that might have been made by other sentient races, and to beam series of prime numbers into space as a big neon 'HERE WE ARE' sign for any other races that might be listening. It has been noted elsewhere that we earthlings are either alone in the universe, or not, and that either implication is of monumental significance.
Supporters and advocates of the SETI program contend that we are probably not alone in the universe given the fact that billions of systems similar to the one that produced us are floating around in the sky above us. This is not a wholly unreasonable assumption.
They also contend that such life forms might possibly be sentient, might possibly be civilized, might possibly have undergone something analagous to an enlightenment and an industrial revolution, and therefore might possibly be technologically advanced and might possibly have invented radios in the process of becoming technologically advanced, without immediately nuking themselves afterwards or despoiling their planet's ecosystem by driving gas-guzzling SUVs down to the local mall to buy batteries at Radio Shack. It is contended that such a life form may have managed to reach this window in their development at just about exactly the same time (relativistically) that it was accomplished on our planet, regardless of the fact that our own planet has spent the majority of its history as an advanced ecosystem as the stomping ground of giant lizards with brains the size of walnuts, and at any rate it is contended that it might just be possible for us to have a listen and figure out if any of this is actually the case.
A fair amount of money and directed effort gets spent on this well-intentioned undertaking, and it would seem cynical to point out to a nice, humanistic stargazer that even sentience on our own planet is somewhat in question, and seems to be something of an evolutionary fluke in any event. It has been pointed out that, given that any astronomical undertaking has to take relativistic effects into account, and given that humans have only had radio observatories listening and crunching numbers for the past thirty years or so, that SETI is really assuming quite a lot in supposing that in a universe of 30 billion light years in diameter, our meagre listening range of less than 60 light years in diameter has a hope in hell of turning up any viable results. In fact, a seagull in high orbit over the earth has a better chance of crapping on an ant on the ground. This brand of luddism tends to be the sort of thing to get ardent SETI advocates really upset.
On the other hand, it would be a dreadful shame if some extra-terrestrial civilization WAS out there waiting to be discovered, and we were too obstinate to pay it any attention. This was the thesis of Carl Sagan's book Contact, and the alien civilization in his book was represented as wise and kind and mysterious and powerful, which is assuming a lot if human history is any indication. After all, the selfsame traits that make humans (and seagulls) evolutionary juggernauts also tends to be what makes us so unpleasant to be around. Some have pointed out the ironic possibilities of inviting contact with a species that might be even remotely as warlike as we ourselves tend to be. More luddism.
An earlier endeavour by Carl Sagan had to do with one of the Voyager probes, and it involved sending a recording disk with the word 'hello' spoken in different terran languages along with the probe, just in case some alien cryptographers equipped with 70 rpm record players and an english/bzorkian dictionary should happen to be orbiting jupiter at the time that Voyager was scheduled for a flyby. This just goes to demonstrate that even relatively smart people can do abominably stupid things if they want badly enough to believe in something.
It seems the SETI programme is a mostly harmless and worthwhile endeavour, and if nothing else it demonstrates to the world that even secular humanists have dreams, hopes, and a need to seek meaning in the larger framework of the cosmos. True, the odd naysayer might point out that it is somewhat ludicrous to be turning our faces to the vastness of the heavens in a search for meaning when at this point in our history we have so many miserable starving beings right here on Earth who would profit much more by our attention than any alien civilization might hope to. Perhaps the home computers crunching numbers for SETI right now could be crunching numbers for medical research, for example. Then again, very few feats of notable daring would grace human history if the cynics always had their way.
There are even reasonable ways of justifying the SETI endeavour to those concerned about the plight of mankind; Sagan, for example, seemed to have the notion that discovery of other civilizations might abate much of the need for conflict here on Earth, a view shared by Ronald Reagan, though Reagan seemed more interested in the notion of waging war on any potential aliens than in having a chat with them. Jimmy Carter, on the other hand, thinks he was abducted by aliens.
You might encounter the odd fellow, like Jimmy Carter, who insists that, not only does life exist on other planets, but in fact a spacefaring sentient race of eugenic interventionists is involved in guiding humanity's evolution as a species, and that people all over the world are being abducted and having things inserted into their nether orifices, and that spaceships are crashing into earth on a semi regular basis, and that earth's governments are involved in covering all this information up to prevent mass panic. Such people generally have very little to do with SETI, and most ardent SETI supporters don't invite or appreciate any comparison.
If we are truly interested in finding life on other planets, perhaps a good start would be to locate some other planets for that life to be on. We are doing that now. Since the Hubble telescope was put in orbit several years ago, astronomers have at last been able to find real, concrete evidence that there are planets orbiting other stars; several hundred extrasolar systems have been catalogued so far, and more are found all the time. Interestingly, the majority of extrasolar systems found to date seem to be binary stars, although this data could be misleading; it may be simply that the measurements of erratic movement used to locate extrasolar systems work better on binary star systems. That being the case, not one planet in any of the extrasolar systems observed to date is thought capable of supporting a complex biosphere like ours; humanity, for the very first time ever, is getting a glimpse founded on concrete, scientific data of just how rare and exceptional our kind of planet is.
We are probably not alone in the universe, which is, after all, a staggeringly big place; but we are also probably very very very unlikely to chance upon finding someone else like us in a place this staggeringly big. And if we are alone, then what? I suppose it really puts the onus on us to not blow ourselves up or bleed ourselves dry, doesn't it? If we do screw it up and manage to drive ourselves to extinction, it's not likely that anyone will be visiting our graveside with flowers, so to speak. A sobering thought.
Then again, maybe Carter is right. Maybe those Heaven's Gate nuts were right. Maybe even SETI advocates are right. I suppose we'll see. Or not.
Supporters and advocates of the SETI program contend that we are probably not alone in the universe given the fact that billions of systems similar to the one that produced us are floating around in the sky above us. This is not a wholly unreasonable assumption.
They also contend that such life forms might possibly be sentient, might possibly be civilized, might possibly have undergone something analagous to an enlightenment and an industrial revolution, and therefore might possibly be technologically advanced and might possibly have invented radios in the process of becoming technologically advanced, without immediately nuking themselves afterwards or despoiling their planet's ecosystem by driving gas-guzzling SUVs down to the local mall to buy batteries at Radio Shack. It is contended that such a life form may have managed to reach this window in their development at just about exactly the same time (relativistically) that it was accomplished on our planet, regardless of the fact that our own planet has spent the majority of its history as an advanced ecosystem as the stomping ground of giant lizards with brains the size of walnuts, and at any rate it is contended that it might just be possible for us to have a listen and figure out if any of this is actually the case.
A fair amount of money and directed effort gets spent on this well-intentioned undertaking, and it would seem cynical to point out to a nice, humanistic stargazer that even sentience on our own planet is somewhat in question, and seems to be something of an evolutionary fluke in any event. It has been pointed out that, given that any astronomical undertaking has to take relativistic effects into account, and given that humans have only had radio observatories listening and crunching numbers for the past thirty years or so, that SETI is really assuming quite a lot in supposing that in a universe of 30 billion light years in diameter, our meagre listening range of less than 60 light years in diameter has a hope in hell of turning up any viable results. In fact, a seagull in high orbit over the earth has a better chance of crapping on an ant on the ground. This brand of luddism tends to be the sort of thing to get ardent SETI advocates really upset.
On the other hand, it would be a dreadful shame if some extra-terrestrial civilization WAS out there waiting to be discovered, and we were too obstinate to pay it any attention. This was the thesis of Carl Sagan's book Contact, and the alien civilization in his book was represented as wise and kind and mysterious and powerful, which is assuming a lot if human history is any indication. After all, the selfsame traits that make humans (and seagulls) evolutionary juggernauts also tends to be what makes us so unpleasant to be around. Some have pointed out the ironic possibilities of inviting contact with a species that might be even remotely as warlike as we ourselves tend to be. More luddism.
An earlier endeavour by Carl Sagan had to do with one of the Voyager probes, and it involved sending a recording disk with the word 'hello' spoken in different terran languages along with the probe, just in case some alien cryptographers equipped with 70 rpm record players and an english/bzorkian dictionary should happen to be orbiting jupiter at the time that Voyager was scheduled for a flyby. This just goes to demonstrate that even relatively smart people can do abominably stupid things if they want badly enough to believe in something.
It seems the SETI programme is a mostly harmless and worthwhile endeavour, and if nothing else it demonstrates to the world that even secular humanists have dreams, hopes, and a need to seek meaning in the larger framework of the cosmos. True, the odd naysayer might point out that it is somewhat ludicrous to be turning our faces to the vastness of the heavens in a search for meaning when at this point in our history we have so many miserable starving beings right here on Earth who would profit much more by our attention than any alien civilization might hope to. Perhaps the home computers crunching numbers for SETI right now could be crunching numbers for medical research, for example. Then again, very few feats of notable daring would grace human history if the cynics always had their way.
There are even reasonable ways of justifying the SETI endeavour to those concerned about the plight of mankind; Sagan, for example, seemed to have the notion that discovery of other civilizations might abate much of the need for conflict here on Earth, a view shared by Ronald Reagan, though Reagan seemed more interested in the notion of waging war on any potential aliens than in having a chat with them. Jimmy Carter, on the other hand, thinks he was abducted by aliens.
You might encounter the odd fellow, like Jimmy Carter, who insists that, not only does life exist on other planets, but in fact a spacefaring sentient race of eugenic interventionists is involved in guiding humanity's evolution as a species, and that people all over the world are being abducted and having things inserted into their nether orifices, and that spaceships are crashing into earth on a semi regular basis, and that earth's governments are involved in covering all this information up to prevent mass panic. Such people generally have very little to do with SETI, and most ardent SETI supporters don't invite or appreciate any comparison.
If we are truly interested in finding life on other planets, perhaps a good start would be to locate some other planets for that life to be on. We are doing that now. Since the Hubble telescope was put in orbit several years ago, astronomers have at last been able to find real, concrete evidence that there are planets orbiting other stars; several hundred extrasolar systems have been catalogued so far, and more are found all the time. Interestingly, the majority of extrasolar systems found to date seem to be binary stars, although this data could be misleading; it may be simply that the measurements of erratic movement used to locate extrasolar systems work better on binary star systems. That being the case, not one planet in any of the extrasolar systems observed to date is thought capable of supporting a complex biosphere like ours; humanity, for the very first time ever, is getting a glimpse founded on concrete, scientific data of just how rare and exceptional our kind of planet is.
We are probably not alone in the universe, which is, after all, a staggeringly big place; but we are also probably very very very unlikely to chance upon finding someone else like us in a place this staggeringly big. And if we are alone, then what? I suppose it really puts the onus on us to not blow ourselves up or bleed ourselves dry, doesn't it? If we do screw it up and manage to drive ourselves to extinction, it's not likely that anyone will be visiting our graveside with flowers, so to speak. A sobering thought.
Then again, maybe Carter is right. Maybe those Heaven's Gate nuts were right. Maybe even SETI advocates are right. I suppose we'll see. Or not.
