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To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field of millet,only one grain will grow.
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Let's be honest here folks, we have almost no idea at all what we are looking for. We have only recently discovered the cosmos and have barely begun to understand it. We don't know how life originated. We don't know the conditions that are required for life to originate. We don't know how many worlds provide these conditions. We don't know how often intelligence evolves, or how often intelligence produces a civilization that can communicate between the stars. We can't imagine what kinds of technologies are possible beyond our own. We can't even guess how long a technological civilization might be expected to survive, or what bizarre philosophies might drive their behavior.
And yet:
When we examine the SETI literature we find proposals for detecting ET signals, (or arguments against someone elses proposal!) that ASSUME probabilities on all of the above points. We hear arguments that include phrases like,"it seems reasonable ...", "it hardly seems reasonable ...","in all probablity","it is not likely ...","it is likely ...","it is difficult to imagine...", etc,etc,etc. We make pure conjecture sound like learned discourse! Guessing with a Phd is still guessing.
What then can we say with certainty?
We can say this.
| Any proposal for detecting an ET signal that does not violate the laws of nature as we presently understand them must be accepted as a reasonable possibility. Given that our present knowledge does not allow us to attach a specific probability to any of these proposals, we are obligated to consider ALL of them as equally possible pending improved knowledge. |
Considering the wide range of possibilities already suggested and those not yet even imaginable, it is my opinion that concentrating our best energies on any one search strategy, no matter how likely it may seem, almost certainly REDUCES our chance of success. Our best hope lies in trying as many strategies as possible.
To that end I have created this webpage.
This page is devoted to speculation. Here you will find links to documents on this website and others that suggest ways of looking for ET. I have made every reasonable effort to include only those ideas that are permitted by the laws of nature, ( at least as far as I understand the laws of nature ! ). It is my hope that these ideas will encourage those interested in SETI to consider a wider range of possibilities and to look where no one has looked before.
Your contribution would be greatly appreciated.
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explanations of concepts mentioned below |
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