We haven’t yet found a speck of evidence for biology on another world, so we have no objective way to judge whether life is a onetime fluke or a near-inevitable phenomenon. Seth Shostak Read Quote
In general, when moviemakers talk to scientists, they usually see them as a resource to solve particular technical problems or script problems for them. So, something like: what sort of weaponry would aliens be able to wield? Seth Shostak Read Quote
Explorers tend to be the aggressive types – why else would they risk scurvy, mutiny and other bad things to go out there? So, you could say that any aliens that are actually moving and interested in going somewhere are likely to be more aggressive. But who knows? Seth Shostak Read Quote
I think there’s a lot of intelligence out there, but that’s just my guess. Question is: Are they peaceable or hostile? You could say that the peaceable ones are just going to stay at home and play with their Nintendos, so if you do meet any of them, they might be hostile. Seth Shostak Read Quote
Any society that could come here could pick up the lights from New York. What should we do about that? Should we darken New York from now until the last human expires? Would we want to turn off all the radars at JFK airport? Seth Shostak Read Quote
America’s popular heroes have seldom been its great thinkers, and even less its scientists. The success of TV’s ‘Big Bang Theory,’ which seems to give the lie to this claim, is more the exception that proves the rule. Seth Shostak Read Quote
Typically, only about 2 percent of the American populace tunes in to PBS’s ‘Nova’ series – the most successful science show on the tube. ‘Survivor’ and ‘X Factor’ get twice the ratings. Seth Shostak Read Quote
I still remember my dismay in the summer of 2007 when – for the first time in the history of planet Earth – America’s share of auto production dropped below 50 percent. Seth Shostak Read Quote
A factory that can turn carbon nanotubes into a sheet a yard wide and long enough to stretch one-fourth of the way to the moon is not something you’ll find at your local industrial park. That’s the show-stopper for the space elevator. The ribbon. Seth Shostak Read Quote
The space elevator’s not just another competitive technology, promoted by people who simply like the idea of diminishing the luster of the thrusters. It would open wide the doors to space. Seth Shostak Read Quote
