A Dutch Life

I’d always just thought “Yes”, but I just read an interesting article that raises some good points which are certainly worth considering:

Zaitsev has already sent several powerful messages to nearby, sun-like stars—a practice called “Active SETI.” But some scientists feel that he’s not only acting out of turn, but also independently speaking for everyone on the entire planet. Moreover, they believe there are possible dangers we may unleash by announcing ourselves to the unknown darkness, and if anyone plans to transmit messages from Earth, they want the rest of the world to be involved. For years the debate over Active SETI versus passive “listening” has mostly been confined to SETI insiders. But late last year the controversy boiled over into public view after the journal Nature published an editorial scolding the SETI community for failing to conduct an open discussion on the remote, but real, risks of unregulated signals to the stars. And in September, two major figures resigned from an elite SETI study group in protest. All this despite the fact that SETI’s ongoing quest has so far been largely fruitless. For Active SETI’s critics, the potential for alerting dangerous or malevolent entities to our presence is enough to justify their concern.

Now that is a good point, I guess my naive “Hello Mr. Alien, will you be my friend?” viewpoint failed to take into account the possibility that those hearing us might actually be something resembling the Vogons.

This is especially important given that, if other life forms out there do exist, then the chances are they will be far more advanced than us. Paul Davies, the chair of SETI: Post-Detection Science and Technology, explored this in detail in his book “Are we alone?”.

In summary, when in a dark room it might just pay to listen first, and yell out loud second, lest you wake the Vogon in the corner.