In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote:

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...

The point isn't whether or not we should be doing it. It's whether or
not some of us should be doing it without first discussing it openly and
coming to some sort of consensus with the rest of us.

Also, you really should read the article before posting your arguments,
since they're already considered and refuted:

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.

"This widely-held supposition was, in fact, decisively disproved years
ago, in a paper written by Dr. Shostak himself! In fact, even military
radars and television signals appear to dissipate below interstellar
noise levels within just a few light years. Certainly they are far less
visible by many orders of magnitude than a directed beam from any of
Earth's large, or even intermediate, radio telescopes.

"Moreover, this reasoning is illogical, since METI's whole purpose is to
draw attention to Earth by dramatically increasing our visibility over
whatever baseline value it currently has. If it's already 'too late',
then what are they aiming to achieve?"

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.

There's also 3.) FTL travel isn't possible, but aliens are long-lived,
patient, and have very fast (sublight) craft, so they can come eat us
anyway.

But again, the point is that such ramifications should be discussed. If
there really is no danger, then let's see if we can convince everyone in
the community (including many founders of the original SETI movement,
who are currently very opposed to the idea) of that before we just barge
on ahead and announce Earth's presence, smug in the certainty of our own
correctness. To do otherwise is dangerous hubris.

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.

I'm sure that's so. I also tend to believe there's no real danger from
METI, since when you consider the time it takes to colonize the galaxy
compared to the time it takes for civilization to arise in the first
place, it's most likely that either there's nobody out there, or we're
in a nature preserve set up just for us. Either way, both SETI and METI
are pointless.

But the behavior of the METI proponents, if Brin's article is even close
to accurate, is shameful and clearly not how rational, reasonable people
should behave.

Best,
- Joe