Seti at Home

Does anyone worry about what might happen if we did contact an "advanced"
alien race? If you look back at human history, when an advanced country such
as Spain discovered a more "primitive" people like the natives of South
America, they ended up destroying their civilization.

There is nothing to say the alien race will be an open democratic society
with a Star Trek like policy to not interfere with other civilizations. They
may very well view us as a labor source to be exploited, a curiosity, a pet
or a tasty dish. I for one do not favor announcing our existence to the
universe.

Fortunately a really advanced civilization probably uses some kind of faster
than light communication scheme and have long ago abandoned the radio
spectrum.

--
Ted

Remove "Spam" from address to email me.


"Rick" wrote in message
...
"Jim Fisher" wrote in message
. ..
"Rick" wrote in message
The same morons who think their chances of winning
the lottery are substantially improved by playing it,

Au contraire. The odds of not winning are infinite if one does not
play.

See what I mean?

RickW

"Ted Lind" wrote in message
news:g2aUa.144433$H17.50643@sccrnsc02...
Does anyone worry about what might happen if we did contact an
"advanced"
alien race? If you look back at human history, when an advanced
country such
as Spain discovered a more "primitive" people like the natives
of South
America, they ended up destroying their civilization.

There is nothing to say the alien race will be an open
democratic society
with a Star Trek like policy to not interfere with other
civilizations. They
may very well view us as a labor source to be exploited, a
curiosity, a pet
or a tasty dish. I for one do not favor announcing our
existence to the
universe.

Too late. We've been announcing our existence for at least 50
years and probably more like 100.



Fortunately a really advanced civilization probably uses some
kind of faster
than light communication scheme and have long ago abandoned the
radio
spectrum.

If we pick up a signal, the civilization that sent it may
not be advanced beyond radio at the time it was sent, which could
be hundreds or thousands of years ago. SAH isn't lookin
specifically for a signal sent on purpose. This communication
isn't two-way (yet). All SAH is designed to do is detect radio
signals that are artificial in origin.

OSETI is taking care of the optical aspect of the search.

If there is a "non-democratic" alien race bent on colonizing
the galaxy I have a feeling they already know we're here. If not,
they will discover us eventually.

Terry