Extraterrestrials May Be Cutting Expenses Too
Alien hunter SETI will be changing its tactics.
Summary: The 50-year search for intelligent life in space -- led by the
SETI Institute in California -- has so far come up empty. Now these
scientists are questioning their methodology, which has been to listen for
unusual blips or bleeps coming from nearby stars.
UC Irvine astrophysicist Gregory Benford and twin brother, James, believe
there is a better approach. Writing in the June issue of Astrobiology, the
Benford brothers along with James' son Dominic, a NASA scientist, believe
that aliens sending signals may be trying to cut back on expenses too.
"Whatever the life form, evolution selects for economy of resources,"
Gregory Benson says. "Broadcasting is expensive, and transmitting
signals across light-years would require considerable resources."
Assuming an alien civilization would be trying to economize, the Benfords
believe any signals it sends would not be continuously blasted out in all
directions. Instead they would be pulsed and narrowly directed and
broadband in the 1-to-10 gigahertz range. "This approach is more like
Twitter and less like War and Peace, " says James Benford.
This concept of short, targeted blips -- dubbed "Benford beacons -- has
gotten extensive coverage in science magazines. It would mean adjusting
SETI receivers to increase the ability to detect such signals. Still, there is
the question of where to look. The Benfords suggest concentrating on our
own Milky Way galaxy, especially the center where 90% of its stars are
clustered. The stars there are "a billion" years older than our sun,
according to Gregory Benford, and may offer a better chance of making
contact with an advanced civilization.
To read the entire article click on SCIENCE DAILY.
Comment: Nobody, unless for the relatively few people who are incredibly
rich, could be against the idea of trying to save money. However, I find
some problems with the logic of the Bensons, some of the problems having
to do with their evolutionist notions.
If an alien civilization is really advanced, couldn't it by now have perfected
a method of sending out powerful signals more economically? Couldn't it
by now have heard our own signals and figured out a cheap way of
communicating with us? Perhaps, if these civilizations are millions or
billions of years older than ours, they could even have invented a way of
breaking the speed-of-light barrier, like in Star Trek, and be able to
physically visit us. UFO reports notwithstanding, there is still no hard
evidence for alien civilizations. I believe we earthlings, considering our
present economic woes, should just sit back and let them contact us,
assuming they exist and really want to get involved with us.
There is a serious mathematical problem though with the SETI way of
thinking. Their reasoning goes like this: Life evolved on earth. There are
billions of stars in the universe and perhaps millions of planetary systems
similar to our own. On at least a few of the planets, intelligent life should
have evolved. So far, so good. However, this logic breaks down when
one considers the incredible odds against the idea life could have evolved
via natural processes from single cells to intelligent beings on even one
planet. If it happened once, which seems exceedingly unlikely, it is mind
boggling to think it could have happened on another planet too, even
given the huge number of stars.
I also found Gregory Benson's implication that evolution is an economical
system to be interesting and capable of being challenged. If it took
numerous attempts for intelligent human inventors to come up with
successful inventions like light bulbs and airplanes, then a blind process
like evolution should have left millions or billions of mistakes and duds in
the fossil record as it attempted to make its upward leaps. We don't see
these failures.
The only real evidence for intelligent extraterrestrials is what we find in the
Holy Bible. There we read about angels, departed souls, and God
Himself. We all will one day be living in another world. If we want this
world to be heaven, the way there is an easy one, as long as we tune
out the "logic" of unbelievers which influences so many people. Jesus
says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me." (John 14:6) But this same Jesus warns, "Enter
through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that
leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and
narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
Alien hunter SETI will be changing its tactics.
Summary: The 50-year search for intelligent life in space -- led by the
SETI Institute in California -- has so far come up empty. Now these
scientists are questioning their methodology, which has been to listen for
unusual blips or bleeps coming from nearby stars.
UC Irvine astrophysicist Gregory Benford and twin brother, James, believe
there is a better approach. Writing in the June issue of Astrobiology, the
Benford brothers along with James' son Dominic, a NASA scientist, believe
that aliens sending signals may be trying to cut back on expenses too.
"Whatever the life form, evolution selects for economy of resources,"
Gregory Benson says. "Broadcasting is expensive, and transmitting
signals across light-years would require considerable resources."
Assuming an alien civilization would be trying to economize, the Benfords
believe any signals it sends would not be continuously blasted out in all
directions. Instead they would be pulsed and narrowly directed and
broadband in the 1-to-10 gigahertz range. "This approach is more like
Twitter and less like War and Peace, " says James Benford.
This concept of short, targeted blips -- dubbed "Benford beacons -- has
gotten extensive coverage in science magazines. It would mean adjusting
SETI receivers to increase the ability to detect such signals. Still, there is
the question of where to look. The Benfords suggest concentrating on our
own Milky Way galaxy, especially the center where 90% of its stars are
clustered. The stars there are "a billion" years older than our sun,
according to Gregory Benford, and may offer a better chance of making
contact with an advanced civilization.
To read the entire article click on SCIENCE DAILY.
Comment: Nobody, unless for the relatively few people who are incredibly
rich, could be against the idea of trying to save money. However, I find
some problems with the logic of the Bensons, some of the problems having
to do with their evolutionist notions.
If an alien civilization is really advanced, couldn't it by now have perfected
a method of sending out powerful signals more economically? Couldn't it
by now have heard our own signals and figured out a cheap way of
communicating with us? Perhaps, if these civilizations are millions or
billions of years older than ours, they could even have invented a way of
breaking the speed-of-light barrier, like in Star Trek, and be able to
physically visit us. UFO reports notwithstanding, there is still no hard
evidence for alien civilizations. I believe we earthlings, considering our
present economic woes, should just sit back and let them contact us,
assuming they exist and really want to get involved with us.
There is a serious mathematical problem though with the SETI way of
thinking. Their reasoning goes like this: Life evolved on earth. There are
billions of stars in the universe and perhaps millions of planetary systems
similar to our own. On at least a few of the planets, intelligent life should
have evolved. So far, so good. However, this logic breaks down when
one considers the incredible odds against the idea life could have evolved
via natural processes from single cells to intelligent beings on even one
planet. If it happened once, which seems exceedingly unlikely, it is mind
boggling to think it could have happened on another planet too, even
given the huge number of stars.
I also found Gregory Benson's implication that evolution is an economical
system to be interesting and capable of being challenged. If it took
numerous attempts for intelligent human inventors to come up with
successful inventions like light bulbs and airplanes, then a blind process
like evolution should have left millions or billions of mistakes and duds in
the fossil record as it attempted to make its upward leaps. We don't see
these failures.
The only real evidence for intelligent extraterrestrials is what we find in the
Holy Bible. There we read about angels, departed souls, and God
Himself. We all will one day be living in another world. If we want this
world to be heaven, the way there is an easy one, as long as we tune
out the "logic" of unbelievers which influences so many people. Jesus
says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me." (John 14:6) But this same Jesus warns, "Enter
through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that
leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and
narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
LSI Blog - Friday, July 30, 2010
