Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - SETI Past, Present, and Future

This book is a collection of essays written by the very scientists and engineers who have led, and continue to lead, the scientific quest known as SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Divided into three parts, the first section, 'The Spirit of SETI Past', written by the surviving pioneers of this then emerging discipline, reviews the major projects undertaken during the first 50 years of SETI science and the results of that research.

In the second section, 'The Spirit of SETI Present', the present-day science and technology is discussed in detail, providing the technical background to contemporary SETI instruments, experiments, and analytical techniques, including the processing of the received signals to extract potential alien communications.

In the third and final section, 'The Spirit of SETI Future', the book looks ahead to the possible directions that SETI will take in the next 50 years, addressing such important topics as interstellar message construction, the risks and assumptions of interstellar communications, when we might make contact, what aliens might look like and what is likely to happen in the aftermath of such a contact.

List of contents

Dedication.- Foreword: Looking Back.- Preface.- Part I: The Spirit of SETI Past.- 1 A half-century of SETI science.- 2 Project Ozma: The birth of observational SETI.- 3 Project Cyclops: The greatest radio telescope never built.- 4 "Wow!", A tantalizing candidate.- 5 SETI: The NASA years.- 6 From HRMS to Phoenix: Up from the ashes.- 7 Seeking SERENDIP: The Berkeley SETI Program.- 8 Millions and billions of channels.- Part II: The Spirit of SETI Present.- 9 ATA: A cyclops for the 21st century.- 10 Optical SETI: Moving toward the light.- 11 Distributed processing of SETI data.- 12 Project Argus: Pursuing amateur all-sky SETI.- 13 Gravitational lensing extends SETI range.- 14 Detection algorithms: FFT vs. KLT.- 15 Implementing the KLT.- 16 A sentry on the Universe.- 17 Pondering the Fermi Paradox.- Part III: The Spirit of SETI Future.- 18 Focusing the Galactic internet.- 19 SETI in science fiction.- 20 What's past is prologue: Future messages of cosmic evolution.- 21 METI: Messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence.- 22 A contrarian perspective on altruism.- 23 Where the L are we?.- 24 What will they look like?.- 25 Being technological.- 26 After contact, then what? Epilogue Hungarians as Martians: The truth behind the legend.- Afterword Looking forward.- Index.

About the author

Dr. H. Paul Shuch is Executive Director Emeritus of the SETI League, an international educational and scientific non-profit corporation involved in and promoting all aspects of SETI research. He designed and served as principal investigator for the Project Argus all-sky survey, he is Principal Investigator for the Invitation to ETI initiative and he is best known for having developed and produced the world’s first commercial home satellite TV receiver.    

Summary

This book is a collection of essays written by the very scientists and engineers who have led, and continue to lead, the scientific quest known as SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Divided into three parts, the first section, ‘The Spirit of SETI Past’, written by the surviving pioneers of this then emerging discipline, reviews the major projects undertaken during the first 50 years of SETI science and the results of that research.

In the second section, ‘The Spirit of SETI Present’, the present-day science and technology is discussed in detail, providing the technical background to contemporary SETI instruments, experiments, and analytical techniques, including the processing of the received signals to extract potential alien communications.

In the third and final section, ‘The Spirit of SETI Future’, the book looks ahead to the possible directions that SETI will take in the next 50 years, addressing such important topics as interstellar message construction, the risks and assumptions of interstellar communications, when we might make contact, what aliens might look like and what is likely to happen in the aftermath of such a contact.

Additional text

From the reviews:
“This book gives an in-depth overview of the history of SETI … . if you’re interested in Extraterrestrial Intelligence, though not necessarily in radio-astronomy and the specific SETI projects, this book is a good encyclopedia type of book. If you manage to read it all from cover to cover, you’ll be certainly able to impress anyone coming to ask you whether you’ve seen little green men while observing Mars or anyone trying to corner you with questions about aliens.” (Kadri Tinn, AstroMadness.com, September, 2013)
“From October 30 to November 3, 1961, a small group of experts from a wide range of disciplines met in an attempt to estimate the number of technological civilizations in the galaxy. This book is a celebration of that meeting, and it is fitting that its 30 articles are written by experts from diverse fields. … the material is accessible to a lay audience, and the writing is generally clear and engaging. … Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.” (T. Barker, Choice, Vol. 49 (4), December, 2011)
“It is fascinating to see how much has changed, and how much hasn’t changed, with the arrival of this hefty tome nearly half a century later. … if you have a serious interest in SETI, this book provides the wide, eye-opening overview that other book lack. A must buy.” (Keith Cooper, Astronomy Now, June, 2011)

Report

From the reviews:
"This book gives an in-depth overview of the history of SETI ... . if you're interested in Extraterrestrial Intelligence, though not necessarily in radio-astronomy and the specific SETI projects, this book is a good encyclopedia type of book. If you manage to read it all from cover to cover, you'll be certainly able to impress anyone coming to ask you whether you've seen little green men while observing Mars or anyone trying to corner you with questions about aliens." (Kadri Tinn, AstroMadness.com, September, 2013)
"From October 30 to November 3, 1961, a small group of experts from a wide range of disciplines met in an attempt to estimate the number of technological civilizations in the galaxy. This book is a celebration of that meeting, and it is fitting that its 30 articles are written by experts from diverse fields. ... the material is accessible to a lay audience, and the writing is generally clear and engaging. ... Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels." (T. Barker, Choice, Vol. 49 (4), December, 2011)
"It is fascinating to see how much has changed, and how much hasn't changed, with the arrival of this hefty tome nearly half a century later. ... if you have a serious interest in SETI, this book provides the wide, eye-opening overview that other book lack. A must buy." (Keith Cooper, Astronomy Now, June, 2011)

Product details

• Authors: H Paul Shuch, H. Paul Shuch
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 08.10.2010
• EAN: 9783642131950
• ISBN: 978-3-642-13195-0
• No. of pages: 542
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 30 mm x 240 mm
• Weight: 1003 g
• Illustrations: XXII, 542 p.
• Series: The Frontiers Collection; The Frontiers Collection
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Physics, astronomy > Astronomy; Elektronik, C, Digitale Signalverarbeitung (DSP), Signal, Image and Speech Processing, Signal Processing, Physics and Astronomy, Astronomy, Observations and Techniques, Astronomy—Observations, Observations, Astronomical, Speech processing systems, Digital and Analog Signal Processing, Imaging systems & technology, Image processing, Astrobiology, UFOs & extraterrestrial beings