May 4, 2013
Feature Guest: Seth Shostak
With ever more groundbreaking data coming in from exploratory missions in our own solar system to the burgeoning array of extrasolar planets being discovered on a regular basis, are we getting closer to answering the age old question: Are we alone in the universe? Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer with the SETI Institute joins Justin Trottier at The Star Spot to explore the history, current status and future directions in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
The two discuss the impact that changes in technology are playing in the nature of the search, how we might overcome the language barrier of communication, and the the potential impact on our civilization of the discovery of a signal. In a broad conversation ranging from musings on the synchronicity problem to whether a response might come from AI rather than carbon-based lifeforms, the SETI enterprise is explored from its many angles: part science, part philosophy, part psychology (both human and alien). SETI might even be, as Dr. Shostak explains, good for the soul.
Current in Space
Iron Man meets space exploration. In Current in Space, Julia and Justin report on the development of advanced robotics and the role they could play in helping astronauts exercise, travel and one day perform complex tasks on other worlds.
About Seth Shostak
Dr. Seth Shostak is an expert in radio astronomy, which he puts to good use as Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute: the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Dr. Shostak hosts the SETI institute radio program Big Picture Science as well as the monthly podcast Skeptic Check that focuses on debunking pseudoscience. He won the 2004 Klumpke-Roberts Award from the Astronomical Socierty of the Pacific for his work in the public understanding of astronomy and in 2010 was elected a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry at the Center for Inquiry. He is the author of several books, including Confession of an Alien Hunter, and Life in the Universe, co-authored with Jeffrey Benett and Bruce Jakosky