No Transmitting Aliens Detected In Kepler SETI Search 197
astroengine writes "By focusing the Green Bank radio telescope on stars hosting (candidate) exoplanets identified by NASA's Kepler space telescope, it is hoped that one of those star systems may also play host to a sufficiently evolved alien race capable of transmitting radio signals into space. But in a study headed by ex-SETI chief Jill Tarter, the conclusion of this first attempt is blunt: 'No signals of extraterrestrial origin were found.' But this is the just first of the 'directed' SETI searches that has put some very important limits on the probability of finding sufficiently advanced alien civilizations in our galaxy."
Stealth became a necessary tactic (Score:5, Insightful)
Other aliens out there may have discovered what we haven't yet figured out:
Not everyone in the universe is nice.
Having a whole bunch of radio signals emanating from your planet is like saying "rob me! rape me! kill me!" to any wandering castoffs from alien civilization.
It might not even be organized military action; only pirates, or serial killers, or even just disaffected artists with a flesh fetish.
Re:They're hiding... (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe all of the other aliens are smart enough to prevent the radio waves of their versions of Jersey Shore (and other cruft) from spilling out into space. Maybe we're the only dumb ones that let it happen. We're probably the laughing stock of the galaxy...
Re:Thirst Toast (Score:3, Insightful)
We already have non-human sentient life on our planet - many cetaceans are sentient - but we are utterly unable to recognize it. The only sentient life humans will actually recognize, are the ones that carry bigger guns than ours. Sad but true.
Re:Stealth became a necessary tactic (Score:5, Insightful)
In all likely hood, they would come to colonize the Earth since it is the perfect distance to the host star to support liquid water and an existing ecosystem that isn't dependent on any one species that would resist colonization.
So they're going to burn more energy than the human race has used since the beginning of time to come here and colonize Earth, when they could just dismantle a planet in their own system and build a Dyson sphere?
The only thing Earth has that aliens couldn't find elsewhere is Earth life. And after all that cattle mutilation and anal probing, they should have plenty enough DNA to rebuild that wherever they want to live.
Re:keep trying (Score:2, Insightful)
"The universe is enormous, no doubt there's *someone* out there."
So, you believe in the "invisible man in the sky" too huh? ;)
The belief in extraterrestrial life is at least based on the observation that life exists on Earth, and the number of stars and planets like our Sun and Earth in the universe is .. astronomical.
The belief in God has no such basis.
Re:keep trying (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:They're hiding... (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember, we used to think the sound barrier was past us.
Uggh. I hate this stupid meme.
We NEVER thought the sound barrier was impossible to break. We thought it might be impossible at the time to build an aircraft that could handle the structural stress with the materials available at that time. We knew the sound barrier could be broken--bullets had been breaking it for decades. The two are NOT comparable in any way.