Question from Anne Marigold: On the basis of 'nothing unites like a common enemy' do you think proof of ETI would unite the people of the world?
Seth Shostak: "It's a nice thought, but I'm somewhat sceptical! I think there would be a lot of contention about who should have access to the big radio telescopes in order to get this new information."
Question from Steve Norton: If a radio signal took fifty years to find a hit, how long would it take us to travel to the destination?
Seth Shostak: "Radio signals travel at the speed of light, which is at least ten thousand times faster than our best rockets.In the future, we might be able to build rockets that could go at ten percent of the speed of light, so it would take five hundred years to get there."
Question from ab3456: Will SETI ever stop?
Seth Shostak: "I certainly hope not. Remember, we're looking for a needle in a haystack, and we've checked out a handful of hay, so it's very early days to think about stopping."
Question from Affro Em: Would mobile phone signals be heard by aliens?
Seth Shostak: "No. They're entirely too weak - in fact, we often don't hear them properly here on Earth!"
Question from :Nastar: How far has the original Voyager probe reached and are we still in contact with it?
Seth Shostak: "It's now ten thousand million kilometres from earth, and we still receive signals from these craft."
Question from Paul Smith1: Do you view "first contact" as an essential part of this planet's future survival?
Seth Shostak:"I'm not so sure it's essential for our survival, but I do think it will happen."
Question from Farris Willson: Even if we had a contact how can we confirm it was from ET and not a Pulsar or other different waves?
Seth Shostak: "The characteristics of the signal would betray it as being sent by a transmitter and not by some noisy natural source. For example, pulsars spread their radio energy all over the dial, which is very inefficient. ET wouldn't do that."
Question from Colin Finch: If contact is established, who agrees what we send back?
Seth Shostak:"Good question, Colin. At the moment, there is a proposal to require international agreement on any reply, but frankly, we've been sending television signals into space for 50 years. So our reply is already out there."
Question from Simon Stephens: Seth, do you believe that the American government has covered up alien aircraft discoveries?
Seth Shostak: "No, I don't. No matter what you may think of the American government, they're not that efficient!"
Question from Matt: What do you think the chances are of a real 'Planet of the Apes'?
Seth Shostak: "All I know is that our ancestors managed to wipe out the Neanderthals and the apes are a lot further behind us, in an evolutionary sense, than the Neanderthals were. So I personally am not worried. But I am stocking up on bananas!"
Question from Tricia: Why expend even more dollars on detecting intelligent life in space when the fact of its existence can be of no material benefit to us? Is it that scientists such as yourself are really philosophers at heart?
Seth Shostak: "I'll take that as a compliment! I think it's mostly curiosity, in the same sense that Galileo did his work on the basis of curiosity. We always want to know what's over the next hill."
Question from James2: Can you give a quick synopsis of what you have discovered so far?
Seth Shostak: "Yes, we can - we have yet to find ET's signal, period! But that may change tomorrow. In terms of the area that we have covered, essentially, all of the sky has been looked at with low sensitivity, but only 500 star systems have been carefully scrutinised."
Question from Vicky Webb: Seth, if a normal person would be scanning through the radio channels could we hear signals from ETs?
Seth Shostak: "Unfortunately, Vicky, unless they've bought the local AM radio station, they won't. You need a much larger antenna than you're likely to have at home."
Question from Paul Calderbank: If it takes 15 billion years to make a sentient life form able to view the universe (i.e. us), how do you expect any one else to be ahead of the game?
Seth Shostak: "Keep in mind that the earth has only been here for four and a half billion years, so there are plenty of older star systems, and consequently, I suspect,plenty of more advanced societies."
BBC Host: That is all we have time for. Here is Bob with a final word....
Seth Shostak:"I appreciate everyone's interest, and the very good questions, and I hope you'll stay tuned, because we will!"
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