Re:In search of ET: Fear of what’s out there causes split am...
by svachalek on Wednesday February 27, 2019 @02:29PM
(#19266176)
This, exactly. What METI is proposing, as I understand, is a stronger, more unmistakable signal of intelligence which carries higher risks.
Also, this is 70 years of noise, a blip on the galactic timescale, getting weaker the farther it goes. We can't stop what's gone out already but that doesn't make us obligated to keep advertising our presence forever.
Re:In search of ET: Fear of what’s out there causes split am...
by SOMA_BOFH on Wednesday February 27, 2019 @02:37PM
(#19266239)
Is there a proposal from METI more capable of reaching out than this 32MW transmitter with a 1.4° beamwidth which has been operating continuously for decades?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eglin_AFB_Site_C-6#How_the_rad...
So if we've been using radar since WWII, and radar has been capable of signalling our presence to alien civilizations, then we don't need METI. Alternatively, if METI is proposing a signal that can reach alien civilizations in a way that TV and radio signals cannot, then the original objections to METI still stand, and the TV/radio signal argument is a red herring.
But really, it's just common sense. Everything we know about the universe tells us that complex organisms exist at the expense of simpler organisms. As a nascent space-faring civilization, we are the minnows in the ocean, and signalling our presence to the bigger fish is the kind of mistake that a minnow only makes once. What exactly is the perceived positive outcome of making contact with a more advanced civilization?