ACS Monterey Bay Program for June 2005

SETI -- The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

	Thursday, June 30, 2005 7:30 p.m. Program The Maritime Museum of Monterey 5 Custom House Plaza, Monterey Note change of meeting place for this month only.
Arecibo Observatory	Speaker: Milos Radakovich, Science Educator

In the quest to discover our origins and our place in the universe, we have often imagined, and sought to connect with, other beings and societies just beyond our horizons.

Early in human history, we imagined gods in the clouds and demons underground. Dark forests were populated with dragons and great monsters lived under the sea. As the dark places of our planet were brought to light, one by one our horizons retreated, yet our need for contact remained.

Some sought to communicate with social insects, great apes, and cetaceans... others looked to the newly established frontier of outer space. In many ways, our attempts to communicate with other sentient beings here on our home planet teach us as much about ourselves, and prepare us for a possible contact with intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos.

In particular, pioneering work with whale and dolphin societies has helped us to think in ways that are quite alien to our atmospheric existence.

SETI -- the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence -- is an outgrowth of the search for other intelligent beings here on Earth, and attempts to answer one of life's most intriguing questions: Are we alone in the universe? Yes or no, either answer will have tremendous implications for mankind.

If we are not alone, then who else is out there? What are they like? What knowledge do they have? How do they act towards other races? What are their philosophies, sciences, and arts? The questions are endless, as are the possibilities. The only way we'll know is to look and to listen. That is the premise behind SETI.

Please join us for a different perspective on our world given by a gifted speaker, Board member of ACS/MB and a regular contributor to National Public Radio on KUSP.

Related web pages:

• Milos Radakovich - Web site with biography and other information
• KUSP Life on the Planet - Science vignettes hosted by Milos Radakovich
• SETI Institute - Mission is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe
• Arecibo Observatory - National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center

• Back to list of previous meetings.