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Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence THE FRONTIERS COLLEctION THE FRONTIERS COLLEctION Series Editors: A.C. Elitzur L. Mersini-Houghton M. Schlosshauer M.P. Silverman J. Tuszynski R. Vaas H.D. Zeh The books in this collection are devoted to challenging and open problems at the forefront of modern science, including related philosophical debates. In contrast to typical research monographs, however, they strive to present their topics in a manner accessible also to scientifically literate non-specialists wishing to gain insight into the deeper implications and fascinating questions involved. Taken as a whole, the series reflects the need for a fundamental and interdisciplinary approach to modern science. Furthermore, it is intended to encourage active scientists in all areas to ponder over important and perhaps controversial issues beyond their own speciality. Extending from quantum physics and relativity to entropy, consciousness and complex systems – the Frontiers Collection will inspire readers to push back the frontiers of their own knowledge. Other Recent Titles Weak Links Stabilizers of Complex Systems from Proteins to Social Networks By P. Csermely The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behaviour Edited by E. Voland and W. Schiefenhövel Particle Metaphysics A Critical Account of Subatomic Reality By B. Falkenburg The Physical Basis of the Direction of Time By H.D. Zeh Mindful Universe Quantum Mechanics and the Participating Observer By H. Stapp Decoherence and the Quantum-To-Classical Transition By M. Schlosshauer The Nonlinear Universe Chaos, Emergence, Life By A. Scott Symmetry Rules How Science and Nature are Founded on Symmetry By J. Rosen Quantum Superposition Counterintuitive Consequences of Coherence, Entanglement, and Interference By M.P. Silverman Series home page – springer.com H. Paul Shuch Editor SEARCHING FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE: SETI PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE Published in association with Praxis Publishing Chichester, UK Editor H. Paul Shuch The SETI League, Inc. P O Box 555 433 Liberty Street Little Ferry New Jersey NJ 07643 USA [email protected] Series Editors: Avshalom C. Elitzur Bar-Ilan University, Unit of Interdisciplinary Studies, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel email: [email protected] Laura Mersini-Houghton Dept. Physics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC27599-3255, USA email: [email protected] Maximilian A. Schlosshauer Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark email: [email protected] Mark P.Silverman Trinity College, Dept. Physics, Hartford CT06106, USA email: [email protected] Jack A.Tuszynski University of Alberta, Dept. Physics, Edmonton ABT6G1Z2, Canada email:[email protected] Rüdiger Vaas University of Giessen, Center for Philosophy and Foundations of Science, 35394 Giessen, Germany email:[email protected]. Dieter Zeh Gaiberger Straße 38, 69151 Waldhilsbach, Germany email:[email protected] ISSN 1612-3018 4 ISBN 978-3-642-13195-0 e-ISBN 978-3-642-13196-7 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-13196-7 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2010936460 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright, All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse off illustrations, recitation, broadcasting reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use Cover design: Jim Wilkie Cover figure: This cover uses a motif from the SETI League photo http://www.setileague.org/photos/hits/carrier.jpg, used by permission (http://www.setileague.org/). Copy editor: Rachael Wilkie Typesetting: David Peduzzi Printed on acid-free paper Springer is a part of Springer Science + Business Media (www.springer.com) This collection of essays is presented in honor of SETI patriarch Frank D. Drake on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Its publication marks a half-century of observational SETI science. H. Paul Shuch Cogan Station, PA, USA May 2010 Contents About the Authors ix Foreword Looking Back Steven Dick xv Preface H. Paul Shuch xix Part I: The Spirit of SETI Past 1 A half-century of SETI science H. Paul Shuch 3 2 Project Ozma: The birth of observational SETI H. Paul Shuch 13 3 Project Cyclops: The greatest radio telescope never built Robert Dixon 19 4 “Wow!”, A tantalizing candidate Jerry Ehman 47 5 SETI: The NASA years John Billingham 65 6 From HRMS to Phoenix: Up from the ashes Peter Backus 87 7 SERENDIP: The Berkeley SETI Program Stuart Bowyer 99 8 Millions and billions of channels Darren Leigh and Paul Horowitz 107 Part II: The Spirit of SETI Present 9 ATA: A cyclops for the 21st century Jill Tarter 131 10 Optical SETI: Moving toward the light Stuart Kingsley and Monte Ross 147 11 Distributed processing of SETI data Eric Korpela 183 12 Project Argus: Pursuing amateur all-sky SETI H. Paul Shuch 201 viii Contents 13 Gravitational lensing extends SETI range Richard Factor 227 14 Detection algorithms: FFT vs. KLT Claudio Maccone 239 15 Implementing the KLT Stelio Montebugnoli 275 16 A Sentry on the Universe Robert Dixon 285 17 Pondering the Fermi Paradox Stephen Webb 305 Part III: The Spirit of SETI Future 18 Focusing the Galactic internet Claudio Maccone 325 19 SETI in science fiction Stephen Baxter 351 20 What’s past is prologue: Future messages of cosmic evolution Doug Vakoch 373 21 METI: Messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence Alexander Zaitsev 399 22 A contrarian perspective on altruism David Brin 429 23 L: How Long Do They Last? Seth Shostak 451 24 What will they look like? Jack Cohen 467 25 Being technological Kathryn Denning 477 26 After contact, then what? Albert Harrison 497 Epilogue Hungarians as Martians: The truth behind the legend Philip Morrison 515 Afterword Looking forward Allen Tough 519 Index 523 About the Authors Peter R. Backus is a radio astronomer who began working in SETI as a post-doctoral fellow in 1982. He joined the SETI Institute in 1985 and was a Principal Investigator in the NASA SETI Program. He continued that work in the Institute’s Project Phoenix, and now manages SETI observations at the Allen Telescope Array. Born in Liverpool, England, Stephen Baxter has degrees in mathematics and engineering, has worked as a teacher in mathematics and physics, and since 1987 has published over 40 books, mostly science fiction novels, which have been published internationally and have received many awards. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, President of the British Science Fiction Association, and Vice-President of the HG Wells Society. An Oxford-educated physician, John Billingham specialized in Aviation Medicine in the UK Royal Air Force. He held positions in aerospace medicine, exobiology, and SETI at the NASA Ames Research Center, including Chief of the Extraterrestrial Research Division and the SETI Office, receiving the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership for Achievements in SETI. Now Senior Scientist and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the SETI Institute, he was inducted into the NASA Ames Hall of Fame for contributions to space medicine, astrobiology, and SETI. Astronomer Stuart Bowyer is recognized as having started the field of extreme ultraviolet astronomy. He became involved in SETI research as a professor at the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, where he headed the SERENDIP program. x About the Authors David Brin is a scientist and bestselling novelist, who has won the Hugo and Nebula awards. Much of his writing features provocative thought experiments about alien intelligence and SETI. He lives in San Diego county with his wife, three children, and a hundred very demanding trees. Jack Cohen is an internationally known reproductive biologist. His last position, at Warwick University in the United Kingdom, bridged the Ecosystems Unit of the Biology Department and the Mathematics Institute. His hobbies include boomerang throwing and keeping strange animals: from Hydras to mantis shrimps, and octopuses to llamas. Kathryn Denning teaches anthropology and archaeology at York University in Canada, including the anthropology of space exploration. She has been actively researching the scientific culture and discourses of SETI since 2004, and has published social scientific perspectives on SETI subjects ranging from interstellar communication to social evolution to contact. Along with many other contributors to this book, she serves on the SETI Permanent Study Group of the International Academy of Astronautics. Steven J. Dick served as NASA Chief Historian from 2003–2009. He has written on the history of SETI and the extraterrestrial life debate, most notably in The Biological Universe (Cambridge University Press, 1996), and The Living Universe (Rutgers University Press, 2004). Minor planet 6544 Stevendick is named in his honor. Robert Dixon has served as Assistant and Acting Director of the Ohio State University Radio Observatory, and Chief Research Engineer of the Ohio Academic Resources Network. A Faculty Fellow in the NASA SETI projects Cyclops and OASIS, he directed the Ohio SETI program, the first full-time search with a large radio telescope, which ran from 1973 to 1997. Bob initiated and popularized the use of the Flag of Earth at SETI worldwide, conceived the Argus omnidirectional radio telescope design, and currently directs its development. About the Authors xi In 1967 Dr John D. Kraus, Director of the Ohio State University Radio Observatory (OSURO), hired physicist Jerry Ehman to work as a faculty member in the Ohio State University department of Electrical Engineering, and as a radio astronomer with the “Big Ear” radio telescope.
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