The dangers in searching for extra-terrestial intelligence.

[Catalpa]

Not more bloody Aliens!

If this lot land we will have to join the Inter Galatic Union like it or not.

The EU will look like a walk in the park in comparison...

[H]

Not more bloody Aliens!

If this lot land we will have to join the Inter Galatic Union like it or not.

The EU will look like a walk in the park in comparison...

Extra terrestial intelligence?

I would like to see if could spot terrestial Intelligence for there appears to be bugger all here on Earth!

[Catalpa]

Extra terrestial intelligence?

I would like to see if could spot terrestial Intelligence for there appears to be bugger all here on Earth!

Its not their Intelligence that worries me - it what kind of weapons they are carrying...

If we link up one day lets hope its by virtual connection only...

[cry freedom]

But not only do I believe in GOd ,but have always known there must be other life forms.
Showing your ignorance of Religion.
The last pope endorsed evolution in general, Jesus said 'In my Fathers house there are MANY Masions which I took to be 'other worlds.
The religion of ancient India taught of other worlds,and the LAWS of God.
Do your self a favour Steve ,and get a real education.
But the serious thing is that Religion is ahead of you in this way.
As you climb the mountain you need to look at all the details on the way
because you see only what is in front of you .
If you look around too much you might fall,and you certainly cannot see over the mountain.
When you get to the top you have a whole panorama ,and many things that you imagined, take on a different perspective,and become quite small,and somethings seen as a whole are not at all what you thought they were.
All you can see now is a whole PANORAMA, not a little crevice ,or plant,
or a grey wall ,but all of it.
The halfway is the veiw of the average Atheist.
On the other hand the more aware Believer sees the whole picture ,and forgets the details ,because they are NOT important.
You are part way up the mountain at the stage where most blindness
occurs [you are facing a wall] .
When if ever you get to the top ,let me know.
If you are not going to go to the top,the view is better at the bottom,where many 'religious' are.

Most people are not at the top ,so it is very difficult to talk to them about the view.

And what process of Divine revelation, naval gazing and soul searching made you into such a mystical Chris Bonnington.

[Mitsui2]

What if ET comes and he's some kind of 'free market' loony, babbling on about the 'new paradigm' and 'the hidden hand of the market' and 'self correcting mechanisms'?

Janey! I always knew ET reminded me of someone, but I could never figure out who it was!!!!

[Malbekh]

Janey! I always knew ET reminded me of someone, but I could never figure out who it was!!!!

The Borg! The Borg are here!!

[Mitsui2]

The Borg! The Borg are here!!

Now that is an extraordinary likeness.

[Thranduil]

To put that in perspective, it's estimated (by me, just now, with Math's on the back of a napkin) that our TV signals have passed 5,400 stars. Only about 10% of those are G-class (such as our sun) or brighter, so that's just 540 stars with any real chance of holding an Earthlike world. As we have no idea how likely life is (on Earthlike worlds, it occurs in 100% of observable cases, but our sample size is admittedly low!), there's no way to really tell what our odds are of anything listening to us living withing this sphere. The chance is much smaller than if the entire Galaxy was capable of picking up our signals, in case that calms the OP's fears

Does the signal not eventually become so faint that it is impossible to pick up? Take another bandwidth of the EM spectrum - visible light from distant stars - our eyes can barely detect it, and the source is much, much, much stronger in intensity than a Radio/Tv transmission, wouldn't the radio/tv signals become too faint over such incredible distances?

If intelligent Aliens do discover us, it is unlikely they would have a special use for us (except as a scientific curiosity), biologically we would be extremely unlikely to be compatible (so they couldn't use us as spare parts for example), as for our labour - anything that reaches us here would have no need to use slaves as manual labour but would have robots or such. Finally, our resources -> if there are any aliens out there interested in our resources why haven't they visited us in the last few eons to make use of them already -> why aren't the seas empty, why aren't there enormous quarries everywhere? Why now in this tiny, tiny fraction of the Earth's history in which we humans have arisen would they arrive to claim our resources if they were not concerned with doing so in yesterday's much much greater expanse of time? I would be an optimist about the intentions of alien visitors if they arrived here.

[Twin Towers]

The earliest radio and television signals didn't have enough energy to get past the ionosphere.

Seemingly its the other way round.

Aliens can't hear us, says astronomer | Science | guardian.co.uk

[Mitsui2]

Oh, and isn't this Turlough O'Sullivan?

No, actually, that's a rare photograph of Mary Harney's soul.