Life imitates "Contact"

[bolson]

I watched this talk by a woman doing SETI work. She was actually not a very good speaker, in my fabulous opinion. She gave a nod to "Contact" by using the "awful waste of space" line, but at other times seemed to just be stealing from it (badly). Then she mentioned a further parallel that was just a little too crazy. Microsoft founder Paul Allen is playing Hadden (the rich old benefactor from Contact) by funding a dedicated radio telescope array for SETI work. (This is actually old news, in the works since 2003, but new to me.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Probably the reason she kept 'stealing' from Contact is because Jodie Foster's character is widely believed to be based on Tarter, so I think she was just playing up to the reputation a bit. Also, most people's knowledge of SETI comes from either Contact or the seti@home screen saver, so I suppose it makes some sense to use this as a base platform.

For the record, I think there are probably many worlds with primitive life, but civilizations capable of advanced technology are extremely rare - maybe only half a dozen or so in our galaxy. Out of those, I doubt many would be interested in beaming signals at us in the same way that if I spotted a distant termite hill from my car I wouldn't bother winding down my window and yelling 'Greetings' at it. Then again, there's only one way to know for sure and I wish SETI every success.