Shawn asks:

> I'm gonna check out the talk you mentioned, I'm a big "space buff" and I
>  think there has been and there will be other intelligent life in the
>  universe, I've always thought meeting aliens and finding out what their
>  music was like and what "creation myth" they might have would be the two
>  most interesting aspects outside of raw technology, however...
>
>  Given the size of the universe, the speed of light, the interference in
>  space in general, the required power of the signal, the sheer gap of time
>  involved - what are the odds of all the things hitting at the same time?

Right at the moment, we don't have a clue, given that we still don't have the
slightest bit of evidence that life -- of any sort -- exists anywhere else in
the universe except here on Earth. However no one much believes that we're
it. Every bit of evidence we have suggests that life should be common throughout
the universe, even though it may be nothing much more than microbial mats
floating on anoxic oceans.

If we are to discover an advanced civilization elsewhere by either optical or
radio SETI, it can't be all that far away or we won't see it. The signal
strengths simply fall off too fast. A volume of a few thousand light-years away
from Earth is probably all the best we can do. Nonetheless, that still means
that there will be millions of Sun-like stars in that region, and it will take us
some time to work our way through just these.

The new Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, CA (which is funded by Paul Allen
of Microsoft) is the key to working our way through this star list in our
lifetime. There are pictures and a description of it towards the end of the talk.

Wirt Atmar

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