Quotes by Seth Shostak - Page 4

Exploration is an oft-lauded human activity, and one that resonates in the same way that music and good stories do. It's hard-wired into our species (and into many others), no doubt because it has survival value. Exploration occasionally rewards those who accept its risks, usually with new resources.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Activity
Exploration
Human Activity
No Doubt
Rewards
Species
Survival
Good Stories
Occasionally
Resonates
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It's hard to imagine anything more interesting than learning how we're woven into the enormous tapestry of existence. Where did our universe come from? How special is our world, and how special are we? We allocate tens of billions of dollars annually to NASA, NSF and academia in search of the answers.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Academia
Answers
Billions
Dollars
Enormous
Existence
Nasa
Our World
Tapestry
Woven
Allocate
Billions Of Dollars
Search
Tens
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The total number of people that do a job that has the same description as mine in the entire world is fewer than 10. There's a lot of effort looking for life in space - that's a lot of what NASA does, but they're not necessarily looking for the kind of life that can hold up its side of a conversation.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Conversation
Description
Fewer
Nasa
Life Space World
Entire World
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The central region of the Milky Way, known as the bulge, is stuffed with literally tens of billions of stars. And most of these are old - considerably older than our Sun or its neighbors - because this part of the galaxy formed first. Consequently, bulge stars are generally deficient in heavy elements.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Billions
Elements
Galaxy
Heavy
Milky Way
Stars
Sun
Central
Consequently
Deficient
Formed
Generally
Older
Literally
Neighbors
Region
Stuffed
Tens
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Humans have existed only for the last 0.001 percent of cosmic time. All of which says that - unless the Homo sapiens brain is the one-and-only instance of cogitating machinery - nearly all the intelligence that's out there is beyond our level. And that intelligence is more than just a little bit beyond.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Cosmic
Homo Sapiens
Humans
Instance
Machinery
Nearly
Existed
Homo
Just A Little Bit
Sapiens
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In archaeology, context is the basis of many discoveries that are imputed to the deliberate workings of intelligence. If I find a rock chipped in such a way as to give it a sharp edge, and the discovery is made in a cave, I am seduced into ascribing this to tool use by distant, fetid and furry ancestors.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Archaeology
Deliberate
Furry
Ancestors
Basis
Cave
Context
Discoveries
Distant
Edge
Imputed
Rock
Seduced
Sharp
Such A Way
Workings
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The Moon is a ball of left-over debris from a cosmic collision that took place more than four billion years ago. A Mars-sized asteroid - one of the countless planetesimals that were frantically churning our solar system into existence - hit the infant Earth, bequeathing it a very large natural satellite.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Churning
Collision
Cosmic
Debris
Existence
Infant
Moon
Solar System
Asteroid
Billion
Countless
Satellite
Solar
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By 2020, most home computers will have the computing power of a human brain. That doesn't mean that they are brains, but it means that in terms of raw processing, they can process bits as fast as a brain can. So the question is, how far behind that is the development of a machine that's as smart as we are?
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Computers
Home
Bits
Brain
Computing
Development
Human Brain
Process
Processing
Smart
Behind
Fast
Far
How Far
Question
Raw
Terms
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The next time you check your moves in the mirror and reflect on how special you are, consider that somewhere in this universe or in another parallel universe, your double might be doing the same. This would be the ultimate Copernican Revolution. Not only are we not special, we could be infinitely ordinary.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Next Time
Ordinary
Revolution
Ultimate
Check
Double
Infinitely
Parallel
Reflect
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The era during which only governments could put hardware on the Moon is coming to an end. There are 26 private teams competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X-Prize - to be awarded for sending a robotic spacecraft to this nearby world that can roam at least 500 meters, and send back data such as a photo.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Competing
Data
Hardware
Moon
Spacecraft
Awarded
Photo
Governments
Nearby
Roam
Robotic
Send
Teams
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Mars still remains the astrobiology community's number one choice for 'nearest rock with life,' but there are many researchers who argue that the moons of Jupiter are better bets. In particular, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto are all thought to hide vast oceans of liquid water beneath their icy, outer skins.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Icy
Jupiter
Liquid
Mars
Particular
Remains
Researchers
Skins
Water
Argue
Beneath
Bets
Choice
Life Water Better
Vast
Number
Hide
Rock
Nearest
Oceans
Outer
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'What was there before the Big Bang?' That's a question that both kids and adults love to pose to anyone who seems sympathetic. After all, if the universe has only been around for roughly 14 billion years, isn't it legitimate to ask what was in existence before the mother-of-all-events cranked up the cosmos?
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Cosmos
Sympathetic
Bang
Big Bang
Billion
Pose
Roughly
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The strongest signals leaking off our planet are radar transmissions, not television or radio. The most powerful radars, such as the one mounted on the Arecibo telescope (used to study the ionosphere and map asteroids) could be detected with a similarly sized antenna at a distance of nearly 1,000 light-years.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Antenna
Distance
Most Powerful
Our Planet
Powerful
Radar
Radio
Signals
Study
Nearly
Leaking
Map
Planet
Sized
Telescope
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You may not see massive UFO exhibits at your local science museum, but there's no dearth of saucer stories infesting my email. Every day, I receive several reports of alien sightings, extraterrestrial plans for Earth, and agitated screeds about the reluctance of scientists to take the whole subject seriously.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Email
Extraterrestrial
Massive
Plans
Reluctance
Reports
Ufo
Alien
Dearth
Museum
Receive
Scientists
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The overwhelming bulk of the cosmos is deathly quiet. But here and there - on worlds where matter is thick and conditions are right - noises are commonplace. And in some cases, these noisy worlds may ring with the sounds of life - the bleats and bellows of creatures we have never seen, but may someday discover.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Cases
Commonplace
Conditions
Cosmos
Overwhelming
Quiet
Someday
Thick
Ring
Bulk
Deathly
Discover
Noises
Worlds
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The thing to keep in mind is that we're still in the very early days when it comes to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Saying there's a silence is a bit like if Columbus, looking to discover a new continent, only sailed 10 miles off the coast of Spain before turning back to say, 'Nothing out there!'
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Columbus
Extraterrestrial
Miles
Silence
Spain
Turning
Continent
Discover
Early Days
Sailed
Search
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Odors can be highly transitory, depending on the air currents. If this is happening in your house, ask if there are any possessions of that deceased loved one still around. If it happens elsewhere, consider just how many millions of people use the same perfume or smoke the same brand of cigar as someone you knew.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Air
House
People
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I've often fantasized about visiting the Bahamian beach where Columbus first stumbled ashore in 1492. Sadly, no one knows where that beach is. In fact, no one's even sure which island Columbus first encountered (there are three candidates). It's a pity, a disappointment, and a lost revenue source for the Bahamians.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Beach
Candidates
Columbus
Disappointment
Pity
Revenue
Visiting
Ashore
Encountered
Island
Sadly
Stumbled
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The bottom line is that finding orphan planets - small, faint, and located who-knows-where - is not for the faint of heart. The task is comparable to observing a match flame at the distance of Pluto. The WISE satellite, a hi-tech, space-based infrared telescope especially suited for such work, has found only a few.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Wise
Bottom
Bottom Line
Distance
Infrared
Observing
Orphan
Planets
Pluto
Comparable
Faint
Flame
Located
Match
Satellite
Suited
Task
Telescope
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Despite tantalizing suggestions of fossilized microbes in meteorites, puzzling and possibly biogenic methane gas in the martian atmosphere, and a long-standing controversy over the Viking lander experiments of nearly 40 years ago, there's still no Exhibit A that points unequivocally to biology in our own back yard.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Atmosphere
Biology
Controversy
Despite
Experiments
Gas
Puzzling
Suggestions
Nearly
Exhibit
Long-Standing
Martian
Points
Possibly
Unequivocally
Yard
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If the cosmos isn't finite, then far, far away, floating duplicates of your brain - with all its experiences, thoughts, and emotions - are occasionally (and temporarily) thrown together by the random combining of atoms. Such 'Boltzmann brains,' as they're called, are a disturbing consequence of an unlimited universe.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Atoms
Brain
Combining
Consequence
Cosmos
Disturbing
Far Away
Finite
Thrown
Universe
Experiences
Occasionally
Temporarily
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Sending greeting cards to aliens is hardly a new idea. In 2005, Craigslist solicited messages for broadcast to space by a transmitter in Florida, and in 2008, NASA beamed a Beatles song to the North Star (Polaris), on the assumption that any putative Polarians would appreciate the Fab Four's 1960s-genre compositions.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Assumption
Cards
Florida
Messages
Nasa
Alien
Broadcast
Greeting
Hardly
New Idea
Sending
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Lamentably, alien audiences may be frustrated by the switch to digital television. That's because the transmitter power for DTV is fairly evenly spread across the spectrum. The spikiness is gone, and from afar, the attention-grabbing squeals of analog television's carriers have been replaced by DTV's smooth, low hiss.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Afar
Analog
Digital
Frustrated
Replaced
Smooth
Spectrum
Spread
Fairly
Alien
Audiences
Low
Switch
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Look, science is hard, it has a reputation of being hard, and the facts are, it is hard, and that's the result of 400 years of science, right? I mean, in the 18th century, in the 18th century you could become an expert on any field of science in an afternoon by going to a library, if you could find the library, right?
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Science
Afternoon
Century
Reputation
Expert
Result
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Each year, thousands of UFOs are sighted and reported, which is an impressive tally of unidentified aerial phenomena. Surveys show that roughly one-third of the populace believes that at least some of this sky show is due to extraterrestrial spacecraft, here to probe our airspace and, when that proves boring, our bodies.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Space
Extraterrestrial
Sky
Spacecraft
Surveys
Aerial
Believes
Bodies
Due
Each Year
Phenomena
Least
Probe
One-Third
Populace
Proves
Reported
Roughly
Thousands
Unidentified
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'Dating Game' wasn't social commentary, political analysis, Shakespearean-level drama or even blunt-force comedy. It was just the televised equivalent of meeting someone at a bar. But it appealed to our most basic Darwinian instinct: selecting a good mate. You can't go wrong when a show's premise is hard-wired into human DNA.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Dating
Analysis
Commentary
Dna
Instinct
Appealed
Bar
Darwinian
Equivalent
Mate
Meeting
Premise
Selecting
Televised
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Is E.T. out there? Well, I work at the SETI Institute. That's almost my name. SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. In other words, I look for aliens, and when I tell people that at a cocktail party, they usually look at me with a mildly incredulous look on their face. I try to keep my own face somewhat dispassionate.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Dispassionate
Extraterrestrial
Institute
Alien
Cocktail
Somewhat
In Other Words
Search
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Most of the things at the zoo don't look like us. We're one design that works. Our chimp pals sort of look like us, so that's a different take on the same basic design. But fish don't look like us, and giraffes don't. They look a little like us, but not too much. And insects certainly don't look like us, and they work just fine.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Insects
Pals
Fish
Giraffes
Zoo
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Today's voguish threats, including climate change, population growth, massive war, and resource depletion, are all amenable to a fix if we act prudently. And even if we don't, these problems are incapable of obliterating all of humanity, let alone destroying the Earth. No, the real End of Days will happen slowly, as the Sun ages.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Amenable
Climate
Climate Change
Destroying
Incapable
Massive
Population
Population Growth
Sun
Ages
Fix
Slowly
Resource
Threats
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There will be an end point to how good TV pictures can get. The boob tube has hugely benefited from the rapid advance of digital electronics. Consequently, the strategy for hardware has changed. In the old days, sets had to be as simple as Elmer Fudd to keep them inexpensive. All the technical 'smarts' were at the transmitter end.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Digital
Electronics
Hardware
Inexpensive
Old Days
Strategy
Advance
Consequently
Hugely
Rapid
Sets
Smarts
Tube
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It's worth noting that invoking God as the entity who set our universe in motion isn't contradicted by the data. Of course, scientists would say the supreme being hypothesis is faith, and outside the realm of science - that it's not amenable to experiment. But we currently have the same problem with the notion of parallel universes.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Amenable
Data
Entity
Hypothesis
Supreme
Supreme Being
Currently
Experiment
Invoking
Motion
Noting
Parallel
Realm
Scientists
Universes
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Every day, the temperature of Sol's surface increases by five billionths of a degree, a change of no consequence for thousands of millennia to come. But a few hundred million years from now, barring a fix by our descendants, this relentless heating will substantially change Earth's biosphere in ways that might not be survivable for us.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Consequence
Descendants
Heating
Relentless
Temperature
Increases
Millennia
Million Years
Substantially
Thousands
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Neil Armstrong was no Christopher Columbus. In most respects, he was better. Unlike the famous fifteenth century seafarer, Armstrong knew where he landed. He also spent his time in public service, not in jail, and his passing was marked by world-wide encomiums. He ended his days as a celebrated explorer rather than a royal inconvenience.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Famous
Armstrong
Century
Columbus
Inconvenience
Jail
Passing
Public Service
Royal
World
Days
Celebrated
Christopher
Public
Landed
Ended
Explorer
Fifteenth
Unlike
Marked
Neil
Rather
Respects
Service
Spent
World-Wide
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Consider: The human genome consists of about 3.3 billion base pairs. Since there are only four types of pair, that amounts to 0.8 gigabytes of information, or about what you can fit on a CD. With a microwave radio transmitter, you could beam that amount of information into space in a few minutes, and have it travel to anyone at light speed.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Beam
Genome
Speed
Base
Billion
Cd
Consists
Microwave
Pair
Types
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It will be the mother of all telescopes, and you can bet it will do for astronomy what genome sequencing is doing for biology. The clumsy, if utilitarian, name of this mirrored monster is Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, or LSST. You can't use it yet, but a peak in the Chilean Andes has been decapitated to provide a level spot for placement.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Astronomy
Biology
Clumsy
Genome
Placement
Sequencing
Utilitarian
Bet
Spot
Large
Monster
Peak
Provide
Survey
Telescope
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In a movie, it's often important to have aliens whose gestures and facial expressions can be 'read' by humans. And in the days before sophisticated computer animation, most extraterrestrial bit players were guys in rubber suits. Such practical considerations forced Hollywood's hand when it came to aliens - they look like us for good reasons.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Animation
Computer
Facial
Gestures
Hollywood
Humans
Rubber
Sophisticated
Alien
Good Look Important
Considerations
Expressions
Forced
Practical
Reasons
Whose
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There is a point of view among astronomical researchers that is generally referred to as the Principle of Mediocrity. ... If the Sun and its retinue of worlds is only one system among many, then many other systems will be like ours: home to life. Indeed, to the extent that this is true, we should be prepared for the possibility that, even in the Milky Way galaxy, billions of planets may be carpeted by the dirty, nasty business known as life.
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Life
Home
Dirty
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There is little chance that aliens from two societies anywhere in the Galaxy will be culturally close enough to really 'get along.' This is something to ponder as you watch the famous cantina scene in Star Wars. ... Does this make sense, given the overwhelmingly likely situation that galactic civilizations differ in their level of evolutionary development by thousands or millions of years? Would you share drinks with a trilobite, an ourang-outang, or a saber-toothed tiger? Or would you just arrange to have a few specimens stuffed and carted off to the local museum?
Seth Shostak / Astronomer
Science
War
Stars
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Seth Shostak Quotes - Page 4

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