Joe Strout wrote:
The SETI community, however, is growing a little anti-science, in the
sense that they are trying to squash open discussion:
http://lifeboat.com/ex/shouting.at.the.cosmos

(Please ignore the cheesy stock photos somebody added to Brin's
otherwise sensible essay.)


First off; Earth is going to stick out like a sore thumb on anyone
else's SETI search within 75 light years of us, or on their radio
telescopes as they map the cosmos.
Second, given the speed of light constraints, it's liable to be a very,
very, long time before anyone ever hears SETI's signals.
If and when they do, then there are two possibilities:
1.) FTL travel is possible, so they can come visit us, eat us, or whatever.
2.) FTL travel isn't possible, so all they can do is send messages.
If the first case proves to be true, then there's a good chance we will
also have FTL travel by the time they receive our signals, which is
certainly going to be a lot of years down the road, and we can go eat
them before they realize we're even here.
My theory is that there are far better ways to communicate than radio
waves (instantaneously in some manner) and any civilization ditches
radio after a few hundred years.

Pat