[FPSPACE] Alien Contact on National Geographic Channel February 2

[Jens Kieffer-Olsen]

 Hi Saunders and List,

 Although I may well be preaching to the converted,
 I'll copy my reply to Fpspace, since this topic
 seems to surface regularly on the list.

 First of all I fail to understand your use of the
 word 'pessimistic'. Is it pessimistic not to expect
 aliens creeping and crawling around nearby? I think
 not! In fact, I expect mankind a future so bright
 that only the entire galaxy can provide us with
 enough 'Lebensraum'.

 Or is it pessimistic to refer to the Drake equation?
 Well, that was a tongue-in-cheek sort of thing, since
 there is no other formula around to justify the SETI
 expense. But nobody, absolutely nobody can derive any
 meaningful result out of this formula by plugging
 values into it, since those values are not known.

 As a consequence there is NO scientific justification
 whatsoever for SETI. I shall even go so far as stating
 that the best spent money in space science are those
 diverted towards mapping the collision risk from Near
 Earth Asteroids and Comets, whereas the money most
 wasted in space science are those tossed at SETI.

 The archetypical SETI hunter seems to me to be what
 Michael Crichton would term an 'Urban Atheist'. The
 sting of 'Horror Vacui', the thought of contemplating
 mankind being totally alone in a vast universe, builds
 up a need for 'Religion Lite', in other words a belief
 in and a desire for aliens to populate the vast vacuum
 of space. Be they good or be they bad, it hardly matters
 as long as they remove our pain of loneliness.

 But to anyone who believes in a universe created by some
 Demiurge, rather than by an accidental fluke of nature,
 it carries little or no attraction to let two intelligent
 life forms meet or clash. One would be bound to be ahead
 of the other, such that the inferior life form would become
 superfluous to the evolution of life, a mere zoological
 peculiarity in the history of the universe.

--
Jens Kieffer-Olsen
Slagelse, Denmark

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Saunders B. Kramer Sr. [mailto:sbetk5 at earthlink.net] 
> Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 3:17 AM
> To: dstdba at post4.tele.dk
> Subject: Re: [FPSPACE] Alien Contact on National Geographic 
> Channel February 2
> 
> Jens : You are much too pessimistic.  But no one, Drake
> equation or not, really has any idea if/where other
> intelligent life exists. That includes you and me.
>
> Saunders Kramer
>
> On Jan 31, 2005, at 4:05 PM, Jens Kieffer-Olsen wrote:
> 
> >
> >  Bullshit!
> >
> >  Believing life to exist beyond our planet is
> >  NOT the same as believing aliens to exist a
> >  rocket's throw away from ourselves.
> >
> >  On the contrary, there is likely to be only
> >  one intelligent life form per galaxy.
> >
> >  The Drake equation makes it rather obvious
> >  that the SETI search is no better advised
> >  than the hunt for extra-terrestrial corn
> >  circle artists.
> >
> > --
> > Jens Kieffer-Olsen
> > Slagelse, Denmark
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: LARRY KLAES [mailto:ljk4 at msn.com]
> >> Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 5:42 PM
> >> To: fpspace
> >> Subject: [FPSPACE] Alien Contact on National Geographic
> >> Channel February 2
> >>
> >>
> >> WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2005
> >>
> >> Naked Science: "Alien Contact" at 10P et/pt
> >>
> >> Many scientists believe that we are on the verge of 
> contacting alien
> >> life-forms. Join the search for extraterrestrials, and hear
> >> from those convinced that life exists beyond our planet.
> >>
> >>
> >> Rebroadcast at 1 am ET on February 3, February 9 at 5 pm, and
> >> February 20 at 7 pm
> >>
> >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >> Visit the National Geographic Channel home page. >>
> >>
> > 
> http://ng.chtah.com/a/tBB->
k8BASJ4TXAVJ5OnAOOv6R.ASJ-RO6T/ngs7<http:// 
> > ng.
> > chtah.com/a/tBB-k8BASJ4TXAVJ5OnAOOv6R.ASJ-RO6T/ngs7>
> >
> >
> >
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