S.E.T.I. -
The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
(Have the "experts" been looking in the wrong direction?)

A simple thought - that conventional scientific thinking forces a narrowing of viewpoint and methodology.
copyright, 2001

[Keys: SETI, Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, First Contact, Aliens, ESI, UFOs]

I have a simple opinion of the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) - why are they looking for radio transmissions when there is evidence of activity much closer to home?

Of course UFOs are nonsense, or so we are told, repeatedly, endlessly, insistently, but has anyone looked?

Not the governments (if the speculations are true then the governments have their own agendas), but independent scientists?

The main emphasis of SETI research is the idea that civilizations will broadcast radio signals which can be detected. This is an assumption based on two points: (1) we are broadcasting radio waves therefore everyone in the universe ought to be broadcasting radio waves at some point in the development of their own histories; (2) that there are others to broadcast radio waves.

There is a third assumption: that any radio broadcasts from active civilizations are reaching out to be received by our aerials, and that ours are reaching out to be heard.

Since at least the 1940s there has been evidence that this planet has an unexplained phenomena which exhibits all the attributes of intelligence and which behaviour is not attributable to any local government: UFOs/Flying Saucers.

To the best of my knowledge all SETI efforts are devoted to long range (interstellar) radio detection, and none are devoted to short range (atmospheric/orbital-to-luna) radar detection. If the UFOs theory of alien life is acceptable, and there is some information to suggest such is worth investigating, then an alternative investigation is worth conducting.

However, there is one fundamental problem (other than the governments, news media, and others who obstruct such an investigation with indifference or ridicule): that these objects/phenomena do not want to be tracked and traced, that they actively avoid detection, and that they possess the technical resources (stealth techniques) to remain undetected except when is suits their own agendas.

This agenda is another reason for the possible lack of "local SETI" - that a radio source light years away can be accorded worthy of investigation, but a source which deliberately avoids detection is too hard for many researchers to grasp and too expensive to investigate thoroughly enough to avoid ridicule from the rest of the scientific community. Or to put it another way: it is easier to "believe" and accept a radio signal rather than a vague radar trace from a hypersonic speeding stealth craft.

So, what about radio sources, why haven't we found any? The simplest answer is that there isn't anyone there to be found. But this assumes a "natural phenomenon" view of the universe - that radio sources are accorded the nature of a natural phenomenon. But obviously such sources are not natural, and thus the reasoning behind the lack of broadcasts might be worth investigating.

WHY AREN'T THEY THERE?

If we accept that local visiting intelligence does not want to be detected unless it suits them might the same apply to distant intelligence - they're not broadcasting because they do not wish to be found?

Reasons for not wanting to be found can vary from the simple: they haven't evolved enough, or that they have evolved so far that we could not detect them (emissions from some communications on Earth today won't reach into deep space to be detected by others), through to the paranoid - it's a very nasty universe out there and the survivors are hiding.

Here's another reason - during their "radio broadcast phase" of civilization they were shielded to prevent cultural contamination. This is a variant of the idea that new worlds are protected by higher intelligence as a way to nurture new life in the universe. During the early life of such an intelligence they need to be protected from their own innocence and encouraged to grow to maturity without outside influence. So, are our signals actually reaching anyone?

Hello?  Is there anyone there, hello..., hello..., anyone?

END.