Seti Results Conclusive Proof? - Page 2

Georg · 11th November 2007, 06:10 AM

Originally Posted by Georg

Is there any reliable explanation for the wow signal that I´m not aware of?

Originally Posted by my_wan

Unfortunately no. The argument for and against the alien origin theory is equally as valid and problematic. It's a bummer how we have to sometimes say, I dunno

.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by BenBurch

Yeah there is; People getting excited over data they cannot explain and jumping to conclusions.

Whom are you talking about? I hope not about me, since I didn´t jump to any conclusions, I honestly wanted to know.

Radrook · 11th November 2007, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by Georg

Thank you.

Whom are you talking about? I hope not about me, since I didn´t jump to any conclusions, I honestly wanted to know.

Talking about the WOW signal, I consider brevity and lack of repetition poor reasons for its rejection. As some scientists have suggested, we might have simply intercepted a brief ship to ship communication. Unless of course there are other reasons for its rejection of which I am unaware.

my_wan · 12th November 2007, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by TEABERRYEAGLE

I HAVE INSERTED A PHOTO OF THE BABY SASQUATCH'/BIGFOOTK, I'VE COINED THE NAME OF "PIGI" FOR IT, INTO MY PROFILE FOR ALL TO SEE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT CAME FROM HARRY W. McCORMACK........THIS IS THE BABY, SNOOZING COMFORTABLY IN IT'S "FUR-LINED"........"BASKET".........THAT WAS FOUND BY ME, SINCE EVERYONE ELSE WAS TRYING TO "DEBUNK" THE PHOTO OF THE "JACOB'S BEAST" FROM THE HUNTER IN PENNSYLVANIA.....THIS INFANT AND THE "FURLINED BASKED" CAN BE VIEEWED IN TWO OF HIS PHOTOS......JUST EXAMINE THE AREA NEAR THE LOWER BORDR..........THIS IS A LOOK INTO THE FACE OF THE "ANIMAL"........CAN YOU CALL IT AN ANIMAL NOW? iF YOU DIDNPT SEE THIS FACE, THAT I'VE DESCRIBED IN MY THREADS, THEN YOU HAVEN'S SEEN THE BF, ETC.!!

I see the blackish blurry blob was so important it warrants spamming off topic IN ALL CAP with claims so imprtant no actual information is provided. I've never reported anyone but this one definitley deserves it.

The Gnomon · 4th December 2007, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by sphenisc

However evidence of absence is evidence of absence.

And 52 terabytes is evidence.

http://www.astrobio.net/news/article710.html

Seti is, to my best knowledge, not asserting that there is someone out there, only that, if there is, we may be able to detect their presence.
The assertion, stated this way, is not disprovable.
Even an assertion that there IS someone out there is not disproved by FFFF terabytes of data. But that's not SETI's assertion, merely their hope.
An assertion that there is NOT anyone out there is not provable as stated. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."
If SETI wants to look, and I want to devote computer cycles to assisting, no assertion of the existence of aliens (past, present or future) is necessarily implied.

Radrook · 6th December 2007, 08:09 PM

Hawkins considers the SETI attempt at communication dangerous. He mentions the possibility of contacting a technologically superior hostile race. So if it wee up to him we would remain cautiously silent based on that possibility. How long he would expect us to remain silent is anybody's guess.

BTW

Of course being an atheist Hawkins doesn't believe in any safeguards against aggression from some malignant extraterrestrial entities. A belief in God would perhaps give him a more positive outlook in that respect.

The Gnomon · 6th December 2007, 08:16 PM

By the time they hear from me, and I hear back, I'll be dead.

Big Les · 7th December 2007, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by Radrook

Hawkins considers the SETI attempt at communication dangerous. He mentions the possibility of contacting a technologically superior hostile race. So if it wee up to him we would remain cautiously silent based on that possibility. How long he would expect us to remain silent is anybody's guess.

BTW

Of course being an atheist Hawkins doesn't believe in any safeguards against aggression from some malignant extraterrestrial entities. A belief in God would perhaps give him a more positive outlook in that respect.

Who is this God person anyway?

Z · 7th December 2007, 10:58 AM

Our chances of discovering intelligent life outside of Earth, temporally coexisting with us, is all but nil; the chance of such life even existing only slightly higher. More likely, there have been or will be one or two such species in every similar galaxy, but those that do coexist with us, provided they, too, develop similar technologies, will only be sending signals out in their local neighborhood of stars (meaning we won't be reaching those signals for millions of years).

If we do find a signal, odds are it will be from a long since extinct race within our own galaxy.

Depressing, I know...

Halcyon Dayz · 7th December 2007, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by Z

Our chances of discovering intelligent life outside of Earth, temporally coexisting with us, is all but nil

And how do you know that?

It's a big Galaxy.
And we've barely begun looking.

The Drake Equation

Radrook · 8th December 2007, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by Big Les

Who is this God person anyway?

To an atheist, merely a man-made idea
To an agnostic-maybe somebody maybe nobody
To a believer-The creator of the universe.

Hawkins is an atheist.

calebprime · 8th December 2007, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by Radrook

Hawkins considers the SETI attempt at communication dangerous. He mentions the possibility of contacting a technologically superior hostile race. So if it wee up to him we would remain cautiously silent based on that possibility. How long he would expect us to remain silent is anybody's guess.

BTW

Of course being an atheist Hawkins doesn't believe in any safeguards against aggression from some malignant extraterrestrial entities. A belief in God would perhaps give him a more positive outlook in that respect.

Jared Diamond is also of the opinion that they would be dangerous. He reasons that many contacts between different human cultures have been violent. I think he and Hawking are right.

No less of a great mind than Tim Burton agrees:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cid85WBkvc

eta: country music may be our only hope!

Radrook · 8th December 2007, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by calebprime

Jared Diamond is also of the opinion that they would be dangerous. He reasons that many contacts between different human cultures have been violent. I think he and Hawking are right.

No less of a great mind than Tim Burton agrees:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cid85WBkvc

eta: country music may be our only hope!

Yes, I understand the logic of their concern and considering the premise it is a valid conclusion. All I'm saying is that from a believer in God standpoint not everything is allowed to happen to the earth since God is viewed as it's creator and protector. Remember the film War of the Worlds? The aliens were stopped due to safeguards that from a Christian viewpoint had been placed here to prevent such a takeover. From a believer's viewpoint that invasion would not even have been allowed to take place at all.

So no, I am definitely not saying that the conclusion is illogical in view of the atheistic premise. Only that with a believer's premise the fear of alien invasion and the subsequent unrestrained enslavement or extermination of mankind would be significantly reduced if not totally absent.

T'ai Chi · 8th December 2007, 03:45 PM

The ETs have radios. They also have Walkmans, and maybe even a Pong videogame system.

Radrook · 10th December 2007, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by T'ai Chi

The ETs have radios. They also have Walkmans, and maybe even a Pong videogame system.

I agree 100%. Unfortunately, fiction via novels and films usually depict aliens as almost always hell-bent on our destruction. This is understandable since it sells. The late Sagan's film "Cosmos" was a refreshing exception. But I imagine it caused a letdown of sorts because of it. After all, conflict makes drama and friendly aliens don't cut the mustard in the drama area so the approach is understandable. Nevertheless, the attitude such films such as "Alien" and its sequels along with "Independence Day" promote is one of apprehension. But yes I can definitely imagine aliens playing video games, making jokes, and goofing around just for the fun of it. I can also imagine them being terrified of aliens. : )

Brainache · 12th December 2007, 05:01 AM

I've been letting SETI use my computer while I'm away fom the keyboard and today I got this email, so I thought I'd share. I hope this doesn't count as spam, if so I apologise:

Quote:

( Donate to SETI@home at: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_donate.php )

Dear Brainache,

The SETI@home team has achieved much progress in the past year. We havesuccessfully started the next phase of SETI@home by distributing data recorded with the new seven beam data recorder.
This data is being analyzed with a new "Multi-beam" version of SETI@home, which was released in July. With the new data recorder, we are looking at seven places in the sky simultaneously while recording fourteen times as much data as before. This means we need more volunteers like you to help us process this data. So please, tell a friend about SETI@home.

But there is still far more to be done. Although we are pleased with the
success of last winter's funding drive, and grateful for the generosity of our
donors, we are still operating with minimal funds. These budget constraints
have forced us down to less than 3 full time employees. With more funds we
hope to hire an additional person to maintain the servers and web site. This
would free our existing employees to work on a method of sifting through the
results returned by your computers in order to identify candidates more
rapidly so we can re-observe them. This rapid response validation system would also give you the ability to see the results your computers have returned in more detail.

To keep SETI@home operating for the next year, and to provide these new
capabilities, we will need to raise approximately $476,000. Currently
SETI@home is entirely funded by donations from people like you.

We hope that you will consider making a donation to SETI@home at this time.
You can make a secure donation by credit card by clicking on the link at the
top of this e-mail. Instructions for donation by check or money order are
there as well. Unless you specify otherwise, your donation will be noted by a
star icon next to your username on the SETI@home pages and your username will appear on our list of donors. If you do not wish to have this recognition you may indicate that as well. Please be assured that regardless of whether or not you choose to have your donation be anonymous, SETI@home will not share your address with other organizations.

You can check on our fundraising progress by visiting our main site at
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu.

Thank You,

Charles H. Townes
(Nobel Laureate, Inventor of the Laser and Optical SETI Pioneer)
Dan Werthimer
(Chief Scientist, SETI@home)

For more information about how to donate see:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_donate.php

Powa · 12th December 2007, 05:19 AM

I got that, too.

Henners · 12th December 2007, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by Radrook

To an atheist, merely a man-made idea
To an agnostic-maybe somebody maybe nobody
To a believer-The creator of the universe.

Hawkins is an atheist.

Rubbish.

I've read it seven times. It's one of Robert Louis Stevenson's best works and Hawkins is a Christian.

Even Long John Silver is a Christian.

Ooh-Arrrrrgh, Jim-lad.

Radrook · 12th December 2007, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by Henners

Rubbish.

I've read it seven times. It's one of Robert Louis Stevenson's best works and Hawkins is a Christian.

Even Long John Silver is a Christian.

Ooh-Arrrrrgh, Jim-lad.

The name spelling was wrong: My bad!

We shouldn't be surprised that conditions in the universe are suitable for life, but this is not evidence that the universe was designed to allow for life.
Stephen Hawking (1942 - )

11th November 2007, 09:49 AM	#42
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834	Originally Posted by Georg Thank you. Whom are you talking about? I hope not about me, since I didn´t jump to any conclusions, I honestly wanted to know. Talking about the WOW signal, I consider brevity and lack of repetition poor reasons for its rejection. As some scientists have suggested, we might have simply intercepted a brief ship to ship communication. Unless of course there are other reasons for its rejection of which I am unaware.
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834	Last edited by Radrook; 11th November 2007 at 09:51 AM. Reason: typo

12th November 2007, 09:24 AM	#43
my_wan Graduate Poster Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 1,077	Originally Posted by TEABERRYEAGLE I HAVE INSERTED A PHOTO OF THE BABY SASQUATCH'/BIGFOOTK, I'VE COINED THE NAME OF "PIGI" FOR IT, INTO MY PROFILE FOR ALL TO SEE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT CAME FROM HARRY W. McCORMACK........THIS IS THE BABY, SNOOZING COMFORTABLY IN IT'S "FUR-LINED"........"BASKET".........THAT WAS FOUND BY ME, SINCE EVERYONE ELSE WAS TRYING TO "DEBUNK" THE PHOTO OF THE "JACOB'S BEAST" FROM THE HUNTER IN PENNSYLVANIA.....THIS INFANT AND THE "FURLINED BASKED" CAN BE VIEEWED IN TWO OF HIS PHOTOS......JUST EXAMINE THE AREA NEAR THE LOWER BORDR..........THIS IS A LOOK INTO THE FACE OF THE "ANIMAL"........CAN YOU CALL IT AN ANIMAL NOW? iF YOU DIDNPT SEE THIS FACE, THAT I'VE DESCRIBED IN MY THREADS, THEN YOU HAVEN'S SEEN THE BF, ETC.!! I see the blackish blurry blob was so important it warrants spamming off topic IN ALL CAP with claims so imprtant no actual information is provided. I've never reported anyone but this one definitley deserves it.
my_wan Graduate Poster Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 1,077	__________________ Peace to all people of the world. The evidence indicates that this is best accomplished through a skeptical approach.

6th December 2007, 08:09 PM	#45
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834	Hawkins considers the SETI attempt at communication dangerous. He mentions the possibility of contacting a technologically superior hostile race. So if it wee up to him we would remain cautiously silent based on that possibility. How long he would expect us to remain silent is anybody's guess. BTW Of course being an atheist Hawkins doesn't believe in any safeguards against aggression from some malignant extraterrestrial entities. A belief in God would perhaps give him a more positive outlook in that respect.
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834

7th December 2007, 10:50 AM	#47
Big Les Not so much a medium as a large Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 5,004	Originally Posted by Radrook Hawkins considers the SETI attempt at communication dangerous. He mentions the possibility of contacting a technologically superior hostile race. So if it wee up to him we would remain cautiously silent based on that possibility. How long he would expect us to remain silent is anybody's guess. BTW Of course being an atheist Hawkins doesn't believe in any safeguards against aggression from some malignant extraterrestrial entities. A belief in God would perhaps give him a more positive outlook in that respect. Who is this God person anyway?
	__________________ "Feeling you’ve done something is not quite the same as the empirical scientific proof." -Stephen Fry The BS Historian

7th December 2007, 10:58 AM	#48
Z D.D.D. Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: In a den in my lair, on the edge of your mind. Posts: 9,166	Our chances of discovering intelligent life outside of Earth, temporally coexisting with us, is all but nil; the chance of such life even existing only slightly higher. More likely, there have been or will be one or two such species in every similar galaxy, but those that do coexist with us, provided they, too, develop similar technologies, will only be sending signals out in their local neighborhood of stars (meaning we won't be reaching those signals for millions of years). If we do find a signal, odds are it will be from a long since extinct race within our own galaxy. Depressing, I know...
	__________________ Merry Yarglemas!

11th November 2007, 06:10 AM	#41
Georg Graduate Poster Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bavaria, Germany Posts: 1,333	Originally Posted by Georg Is there any reliable explanation for the wow signal that I´m not aware of? Originally Posted by my_wan Unfortunately no. The argument for and against the alien origin theory is equally as valid and problematic. It's a bummer how we have to sometimes say, I dunno . Thank you. Originally Posted by BenBurch Yeah there is; People getting excited over data they cannot explain and jumping to conclusions. Whom are you talking about? I hope not about me, since I didn´t jump to any conclusions, I honestly wanted to know.

4th December 2007, 06:12 PM	#44
The Gnomon Scholar Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: In Dark Energy! Posts: 107	Originally Posted by sphenisc However evidence of absence is evidence of absence. And 52 terabytes is evidence. http://www.astrobio.net/news/article710.html Seti is, to my best knowledge, not asserting that there is someone out there, only that, if there is, we may be able to detect their presence. The assertion, stated this way, is not disprovable. Even an assertion that there IS someone out there is not disproved by FFFF terabytes of data. But that's not SETI's assertion, merely their hope. An assertion that there is NOT anyone out there is not provable as stated. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." If SETI wants to look, and I want to devote computer cycles to assisting, no assertion of the existence of aliens (past, present or future) is necessarily implied.

6th December 2007, 08:16 PM	#46
The Gnomon Scholar Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: In Dark Energy! Posts: 107	By the time they hear from me, and I hear back, I'll be dead.

7th December 2007, 11:13 AM	#49
Halcyon Dayz Thinker Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Nederland - Sol III Posts: 180	Green Bank Formula Originally Posted by Z Our chances of discovering intelligent life outside of Earth, temporally coexisting with us, is all but nil And how do you know that? It's a big Galaxy. And we've barely begun looking. The Drake Equation
	__________________ An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it. -- Don Marquis Join the Illuminati

8th December 2007, 02:12 PM	#50
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834	Originally Posted by Big Les Who is this God person anyway? To an atheist, merely a man-made idea To an agnostic-maybe somebody maybe nobody To a believer-The creator of the universe. Hawkins is an atheist.
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834

8th December 2007, 02:34 PM	#51
calebprime Somewhat Elitist Parasite Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 7,750	Originally Posted by Radrook Hawkins considers the SETI attempt at communication dangerous. He mentions the possibility of contacting a technologically superior hostile race. So if it wee up to him we would remain cautiously silent based on that possibility. How long he would expect us to remain silent is anybody's guess. BTW Of course being an atheist Hawkins doesn't believe in any safeguards against aggression from some malignant extraterrestrial entities. A belief in God would perhaps give him a more positive outlook in that respect. Jared Diamond is also of the opinion that they would be dangerous. He reasons that many contacts between different human cultures have been violent. I think he and Hawking are right. No less of a great mind than Tim Burton agrees: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cid85WBkvc eta: country music may be our only hope!
	__________________ Mr. DeBakey's free, but he's a little bit conciliatory. Last edited by calebprime; 8th December 2007 at 02:38 PM.

8th December 2007, 02:46 PM	#52
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834	Originally Posted by calebprime Jared Diamond is also of the opinion that they would be dangerous. He reasons that many contacts between different human cultures have been violent. I think he and Hawking are right. No less of a great mind than Tim Burton agrees: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cid85WBkvc eta: country music may be our only hope! Yes, I understand the logic of their concern and considering the premise it is a valid conclusion. All I'm saying is that from a believer in God standpoint not everything is allowed to happen to the earth since God is viewed as it's creator and protector. Remember the film War of the Worlds? The aliens were stopped due to safeguards that from a Christian viewpoint had been placed here to prevent such a takeover. From a believer's viewpoint that invasion would not even have been allowed to take place at all. So no, I am definitely not saying that the conclusion is illogical in view of the atheistic premise. Only that with a believer's premise the fear of alien invasion and the subsequent unrestrained enslavement or extermination of mankind would be significantly reduced if not totally absent.
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834	Last edited by Radrook; 8th December 2007 at 02:50 PM.

8th December 2007, 03:45 PM	#53
T'ai Chi Penultimate Amazing Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 11,235	The ETs have radios. They also have Walkmans, and maybe even a Pong videogame system.
	__________________ http://www.statisticool.com

10th December 2007, 08:52 PM	#54
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834	Originally Posted by T'ai Chi The ETs have radios. They also have Walkmans, and maybe even a Pong videogame system. I agree 100%. Unfortunately, fiction via novels and films usually depict aliens as almost always hell-bent on our destruction. This is understandable since it sells. The late Sagan's film "Cosmos" was a refreshing exception. But I imagine it caused a letdown of sorts because of it. After all, conflict makes drama and friendly aliens don't cut the mustard in the drama area so the approach is understandable. Nevertheless, the attitude such films such as "Alien" and its sequels along with "Independence Day" promote is one of apprehension. But yes I can definitely imagine aliens playing video games, making jokes, and goofing around just for the fun of it. I can also imagine them being terrified of aliens. : )
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834

12th December 2007, 05:01 AM	#55
Brainache Nasty Brutish and Tall Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Knob Hill. Posts: 9,086	I've been letting SETI use my computer while I'm away fom the keyboard and today I got this email, so I thought I'd share. I hope this doesn't count as spam, if so I apologise: Quote: ( Donate to SETI@home at: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_donate.php ) Dear Brainache, The SETI@home team has achieved much progress in the past year. We havesuccessfully started the next phase of SETI@home by distributing data recorded with the new seven beam data recorder. This data is being analyzed with a new "Multi-beam" version of SETI@home, which was released in July. With the new data recorder, we are looking at seven places in the sky simultaneously while recording fourteen times as much data as before. This means we need more volunteers like you to help us process this data. So please, tell a friend about SETI@home. But there is still far more to be done. Although we are pleased with the success of last winter's funding drive, and grateful for the generosity of our donors, we are still operating with minimal funds. These budget constraints have forced us down to less than 3 full time employees. With more funds we hope to hire an additional person to maintain the servers and web site. This would free our existing employees to work on a method of sifting through the results returned by your computers in order to identify candidates more rapidly so we can re-observe them. This rapid response validation system would also give you the ability to see the results your computers have returned in more detail. To keep SETI@home operating for the next year, and to provide these new capabilities, we will need to raise approximately $476,000. Currently SETI@home is entirely funded by donations from people like you. We hope that you will consider making a donation to SETI@home at this time. You can make a secure donation by credit card by clicking on the link at the top of this e-mail. Instructions for donation by check or money order are there as well. Unless you specify otherwise, your donation will be noted by a star icon next to your username on the SETI@home pages and your username will appear on our list of donors. If you do not wish to have this recognition you may indicate that as well. Please be assured that regardless of whether or not you choose to have your donation be anonymous, SETI@home will not share your address with other organizations. You can check on our fundraising progress by visiting our main site at http://setiathome.berkeley.edu. Thank You, Charles H. Townes (Nobel Laureate, Inventor of the Laser and Optical SETI Pioneer) Dan Werthimer (Chief Scientist, SETI@home) For more information about how to donate see: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_donate.php
	__________________ Words cannot convey the vertiginous retching horror that enveloped me as I lost consciousness. - W. S. Burroughs Invert the prominent diaphragm!!!

12th December 2007, 05:19 AM	#56
Powa to the people Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Slovenia Posts: 7,585	I got that, too.
	__________________ Satan is waitin', anticipatin' and hatin'. Stop Sylvia Browne www.whatstheharm.net What's a "sig"?

12th December 2007, 08:09 AM	#57
Henners Muse Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 767	Originally Posted by Radrook To an atheist, merely a man-made idea To an agnostic-maybe somebody maybe nobody To a believer-The creator of the universe. Hawkins is an atheist. Rubbish. I've read it seven times. It's one of Robert Louis Stevenson's best works and Hawkins is a Christian. Even Long John Silver is a Christian. Ooh-Arrrrrgh, Jim-lad.
Henners Muse Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 767

12th December 2007, 09:02 AM	#58
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834	Originally Posted by Henners Rubbish. I've read it seven times. It's one of Robert Louis Stevenson's best works and Hawkins is a Christian. Even Long John Silver is a Christian. Ooh-Arrrrrgh, Jim-lad. The name spelling was wrong: My bad! We shouldn't be surprised that conditions in the universe are suitable for life, but this is not evidence that the universe was designed to allow for life. Stephen Hawking (1942 - )
Radrook Banned Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,834