To date, astronomers have identified nearly 2,000 different exoplanets. And in proportion to the growth of their number, the likelihood that we will one day still be able to find extraterrestrial life grows. There is no need to doubt that. Here the question is most likely in how "densely populated" the universe?
And if extraterrestrial life is "somewhere out there," then it is quite possible that we will be able to "reach out" to it by radio broadcasts. This method of active search is called "Active SETI" and does not consist in listening to an external signal, but rather in transmitting your own in the hope of one day finding the point of its reception.
At first, "Active SETI" may seem like science fiction, but some astronomers are already beginning to perceive and discuss it with the utmost seriousness of the issue. And yet, as with any endeavors, there are skeptics who in this case believe that the transmission of radio signals to deep space by humanity may one day turn into the end of our civilization, because it is not known who and with what level of intelligence and development "will pick up the phone at the other end."
Work is in full swing
“This is a very interesting topic for discussion,” says Seth Shostak, chief astronomer at the SETI Institute, which searches for extraterrestrial civilizations.
"Over the past years, many meetings have taken place and many reports have been read about the Active SETI program, because it is one of the most important aspects of our work."
In an interview with Space.com, Shostak said that in his opinion, this issue is not something for which humanity needs to be very worried.
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“Of course, we have not discussed this issue from all sides with the wider public. However, the same news about the discovery of new exoplanets is generating great interest around the world. But even such news, and even more so talking about them with ordinary people, were practically impossible 20 years ago."
“To begin with, for Active SETI, the most important question is which direction to work in? What is the most appropriate way to communicate? Even if you find a suitable way, what exactly do you want to say?"
On distance
Several years ago, the famous British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking suggested that the communication of earthlings with extraterrestrial intelligence could be a threat to the Earth as a whole. And although the existence of extraterrestrial life has not yet been proven, Hawking then said that the result of visits to Earth by aliens from other planets could be as sad as the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. As everyone knows, for the local people of America, this meeting did not end well in the end.
"Hawking scared us all a little a few years ago, saying that humanity should not broadcast messages about its existence, because the result of all this could be completely bleak for all of us," said Chris Impey, head of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona.
“I think Hawking was right about our immaturity to this event as a species,” Impley continues. “However, I think this argument is controversial, because truly advanced civilizations are unlikely to perceive our desire for communication in any way. to another, or, say, from a negative point of view. In the end, the Active SETI program makes us feel a little more prepared. Ultimately I think that knowing which side to expect the threat, if any, will be better than not knowing.
For Impi himself, the most promising search approach is not the operation of SETI itself or the transmission of radio signals from Earth, but rather the discovery of new civilizations from their energy or technological imprints.
Unsolved riddles
Stephen Dick from the John Kluge Center of the Library of Congress (Washington, USA) joins the discussion of the Active SETI program:
"I am in favor of passive SETI programs and will even advocate the resumption of government funding in this direction after a 20-year hiatus," Dick shares with Space.
"It seems to me that the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence is one of the greatest and so far unsolved mysteries of science."
Dick points out that the current gaze of NASA astrobiologists is directed towards the search for microbial life in space, but he believes that the work should be carried out on a wider scale and encompass the search for more complex life forms that can be imagined in the vast space.
“On the other hand, I would not suggest that the government provide support for programs aimed at transmitting messages from Earth in order to find extraterrestrial intelligence. We need to find the aliens first and get enough time so that teams of scientists, psychologists and sociologists can work with the citizens of this planet to decide which message is worth or not to convey to this extraterrestrial intelligence,”says Dick.
Someone else's soul - darkness
Dick, however, is not entirely positive about the opportunity to one day make contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. In his opinion, we still underestimate the fact of how different the thoughts and minds of aliens from ours can be, even in the same science or mathematics.
“This can also apply to the Fermi paradox. This paradox, invented by physicist Enrico Fermi, shows an obvious contradiction between the high probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the absence of visible traces of the activities of these extraterrestrial civilizations. In other words, Fermi tried this paradox in 1950 to ask his colleagues: if there really are aliens, then where are they all?"
“It should also be noted that it will be very difficult to regulate private projects and larger-scale projects of organizations that set as their task the transmission of messages to extraterrestrial intelligence. And I myself will not support such attempts,”says Dick, who believes that we have a chance to eventually find both“good”and“bad”aliens.
“We still haven't fully figured out the evolution of altruism here on Earth, so how do we know that among all possible intelligent living forms, there are only good aliens? Of course, I would like to believe it, but it cannot be called a fact."
Directional signals
But have we not already declared ourselves to space with all these television signals and military radar radars? Even music oozes through the Universe, directed towards a certain chosen star.
"This is true, but it is not at all the same as if we were sending direct signals in the direction of this or that potentially habitable exoplanet," says Dick.
“And yet the idea that the Earth is hiding and afraid to meet with representatives of the Universe is not the planet I would like to live on. The work of SETI is only a part of the maturation of our cosmic consciousness and the desire to declare ourselves to the cosmos and it is definitely not worth stopping there,”continues Dick.
"The fact that this work is now a subject of controversy and discussion already in itself speaks of how seriously the opinion about the possibility of having intelligent life somewhere in the universe is taken."
NASA's Voyager twin satellites were launched in August and September 1977. On board each spacecraft there is a gold plate engraved with the coordinates of our planet's location, its sounds and greetings to potential extraterrestrial intelligence, which may one day find these vehicles. Each disc contains a total of 117 drawings and greetings in 54 languages of our world, as well as information about the sounds of our nature and technology: there are sounds of storms, volcanoes, rocket launches, aircraft and animals.
Consequences of contact
“Yes, we must not forget about this topic,” says Michael Misha, author of the 2007 book Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials ).
Michael Mishu is a former diplomatic officer of the US State Department and is recognized as one of the most interesting thinkers and writers on the possible consequences of our contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.
“The Active SETI program runs counter to the traditional view of the SETI pioneers themselves, who set themselves the goal of 'listening but not transmitting,'” Misha tells Space.com.
“This dramatic change in work policy is a consequence of the impatience of the younger SETI generation to make extraterrestrial contact after 40 years of failed searches. However, "Active SETI" is not a science. This is just an attempt to provoke a response from extraterrestrial society, whose technological abilities and social foundations are completely unknown to us."
According to Mishu, the worst thing here is that some may not understand the consequences of the sent signal. And these consequences can affect not only the senders of this signal, but the entire human species.
"There is no historical or other scientific evidence that tells us that all the consequences of this contact will be exactly what those who send these signals are counting on."
Signal strength
Mishu believes that if some extraterrestrial civilization can pick up our signals, then with a high degree of probability this civilization will be much more technologically advanced than our own. So advanced that it will be able, with a certain amount of patience, to send space probes to us at a distance of many light years from their planet. Modern scientists and engineers are sure that in order to be able to send robotic spacecraft to the nearest stars, any civilization must be only slightly more technologically advanced than we are.
Mishu disagrees with the previous statements of some experts that we, or rather our signals sent into space, were actually discovered long ago. Experts argue that ordinary signals sent from Earth are too weak to be picked up at interstellar distances without the use of giant antennas.
“The issue of sending incredibly powerful signals into space should not be solved by one single person. The topic, affecting decisions on attracting or not attracting the attention of space to us, as well as efforts to make our civilization even more visible on the scale of space, than it already is now - this is an issue that requires a full and comprehensive discussion at the level of all mankind."
