Ask Seth Shostak transcript
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| This event took place Sunday 12th August 2001 |
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Seth Shostak
ET Investigator Seth Shostak, talks about the 'Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence' project, SETI
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Question from Ben: Do you believe in extra-terrestrials?
Seth Shostak: "Well, Ben, if I didn't, I wouldn't continue to do this work. It would be very frustrating to think that we're looking for something that doesn't exist."
Question from Duncan: How do you use radios to listen for aliens?
Seth Shostak: "The scheme that we use is to point very large antennas in the directions of sun-like stars, and look for signals that are clearly produced by a transmitter, and not natural cosmic static."
Question from Sara: What type of signals do you expect aliens to make?
Seth Shostak: "Well, Sara, I expect aliens to make all kinds of signals, but the kind that we look for are so-called narrow-band signals. These are at one particular spot on the radio dial. These are the types of signals that would be most easy to detect from great distances."
Question from Vicki: Is there any possible chance we could encounter alien life in our lifetime?
Seth Shostak: "I don't think we're going to encounter it face-to-proboscis. I don't expect them to come here, and we're not going there, but we might find a signal from them in the next several decades."
Question from Martin: Does the SETI dish transmit as well as receive?
Seth Shostak: "The Arecibo antenna does have a powerful transmitter, but we don't use it. We're just trying to eavesdrop."
Question from Mike: Do you think any contact will be understandable to us, will we recognise it?
Seth Shostak: "If they are being altruistic, and trying to educate us, they may make their message simple for us. But personally, I don't expect this. I suspect we'll not understand their message."
Question from Rob Sharp: If we're not alone, why all the sightings and no contact?
Seth Shostak: "Most of the sightings can be explained as natural phenomena or aircraft or balloons or other mundane stuff. I still haven't seen any evidence that any of these sightings involve alien spacecraft. I think the aliens exist - I just don't think they're visiting."
Question from Marcos Scriven: There is a screen saver which uses your PC while you're not using it, to analyse SETI signals. Do you know if anyone has turned up anything interesting using this method?
Seth Shostak: "There has been a lot of processed data, but it will be a few years before they will know if SETI@home has turned up ET's faint whine."
Question from Simon Zerafa: What are the chances that ET might be a machine intelligence rather that biological?
Seth Shostak: "Personally, I think it's quite likely that the bulk of the intelligence in the galaxy is not soft and squishy, but rather, artificial."
Question from Michael Somers: Do you think places like Stonehenge where created by aliens?
Seth Shostak:"That would be a disservice to druid engineers! I'm sure Stonehenge, the pyramids, and the lines in Peru, were all made by clever humans."
Question from Loz Herbert:If aliens were found, would it not be kept quiet due to the potential mass hysteria?
Seth Shostak: "No I don't. The majority of folk believe that the aliens are already here, and I don't see them rioting in the street about that. Any discovery would be made public immediately."
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