SETI and Beyond: A discussion with Brian Keating, Paul Davies, Jim Benford and Mat Kaplan - Replay (#289)

This brain trust of SETI experts was hosted in February of 2020, back when live, in-studio conversations happened, and discussions of alien artifacts and UAPs was fringe science. The discussion includes James Benford's strategy for finding ETI artifacts and a proposition for both passive and active observations by optical and radio listening, radar imaging and launching probes. A debate on the implications of our own technosignatures. And what if we find nothing? A profound result: suggesting that, perhaps, no ET intelligence has yet come to look at Earth, or perhaps other civilizations are simply not as curious as we, good at concealing their activities, or simply lost to deep time.

Many of the topics covered have now become mainstream science! The Director of National Intelligence has just released the second Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon. NASA has commissioned an independent study on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) led by Professor Keating’s friend and colleague, Former chair of Princeton’s astrophysics department, and President of the Simons Foundation, David Spergel. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-to-set-up-independent-study-on-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena/

And of course, our friend, Harvard Astronomy Professor Avi Loeb's Galileo Project for the Systematic Scientific Search for Evidence of Extraterrestrial Technological Artifacts ( https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/home ). See our latest episode with Avi here: https://youtu.be/N9lUceHsLRw

Our Aliens, UFOs, & Extraterrestrial Intelligence playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJGKdZD30K__D6oamWCq9uvSFKVoatsCf

James Benford is President of Microwave Sciences, Inc. in Lafayette, California, specializing in High Power Microwaves and their space applications. His interests include electromagnetic power beaming for space propulsion, and experimental intense particle beams. He has a PhD in Physics in plasma physics (UCSD 1969). He co-edited Starship Century, dealing with the prospect of star travel, an anthology of fact & fiction. See jamesbenford.com.

Paul Davies is Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. His research spans cosmology, astrobiology and theoretical physics. He has made important contributions to quantum field theory in curved spacetime, with applications to inflationary cosmology and black holes. He was among the first to champion the possibility that microbial life could be transferred between Mars and Earth in impact ejecta. He is the author of 28 books, including most recently The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence.

Mat Kaplan was the host of Planetary Radio from the Planetary Society from its' 2002 premiere through 2022. He was a Planetary Society staff member for more than 15 years, He hosts live events for Southern California Public Radio called NEXT, and frequently serves as moderator or speaker at space and science gatherings.

Video of this episode: https://youtu.be/nCXV3PSQGAY

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