Active SETI? - no thanks

TV and Radio signals from Earth have now traveled about 60 Light years. Luckily, even if the TV/Radio signals were intercepted by aliens, the signals would be very weak and jumbled together. It does give away our position to any aliens that are within the 60 light year range. There are over 2000 stars within a 60 light year radius and by 2050 our TV/Radio signals will have traveled 100 light years and reached approximately 170000 stars.

The most famous directional attempt to contact alien species is the Arecibo message. However, this won't arrive for over 20,000 years.

This handy table can be found on the wiki page for active SETI and shows when we might expect aliens to notice us. Of course they would still have to get here...

Name	Designation	Constellation	Date sent	Arrival date	Message
Gliese 581	HIP 74995	Libra	2008-10-09October 9, 2008	20292029	A Message From Earth
Polaris	HIP 11767	Ursa Minor	2008-10-09February 4, 2008	20292439	Across the Universe
Gliese 581	HIP 74995	Libra	2008-10-09August 28, 2009	20302030	Hello From Earth
	HIP 4872	Cassiopeia	2003-07-06July 6, 2003	2036-04April 2036	Cosmic Call 2
	HD 245409	Orion	2003-07-06July 6, 2003	2040-08August 2040	Cosmic Call 2
55 Cnc	HD 75732	Cancer	2003-07-06July 6, 2003	2044-05May 2044	Cosmic Call 2
	HD 10307	Andromeda	2003-07-06July 6, 2003	2044-09September 2044	Cosmic Call 2
47 UMa	HD 95128	Ursa Major	2001-09-03September 3, 2001	2047-07July 2047	Teen Age Message
47 UMa	HD 95128	Ursa Major	2003-07-06July 6, 2003	2049-05May 2049	Cosmic Call 2
Gl 777	HD 190360	Cygnus	1999-07-01July 1, 1999	2051-04April 2051	Cosmic Call 1
15 Sge	HD 190406	Sagitta	1999-06-30June 30, 1999	2057-02February 2057	Cosmic Call 1
	HD 76151	Hydra	2001-09-04September 4, 2001	2057-05May 2057	Teen Age Message
37 Gem	HD 50692	Gemini	2001-09-03September 3, 2001	2057-12December 2057	Teen Age Message
	HD 193664	Draco	2001-09-04September 4, 2001	2059-01January 2059	Teen Age Message
	HD 126053	Virgo	2001-09-03September 3, 2001	2059-12January 2059	Teen Age Message
	HD 178428	Sagitta	1999-06-30June 30, 1999	2067-10October 2067	Cosmic Call 1
16 Cyg A	HD 186408	Cygnus	1999-05-24May 24, 1999	2069-11November 2069	Cosmic Call 1
	HD 197076	Delphinus	2000-08-29August 29, 2001	2070-02February 2070	Teen Age Message
Messier 13	NGC 6205	Hercules	1974-11-16November 16, 1974	approx. 25974	Arecibo Message

I personally take the stance that active SETI is completely reckless and anyone doing this is a danger to the entire human race. If anything, we should be trying to mask our presence in the universe. Whatever alien intelligence we come across may well be hostile (e.g. a berserker probe). The technology that they posses is also likely to be far more advanced than that of our own. Our solar system has been about for billions of years and our galaxy for much longer. There has been plenty of time for alien intelligence to grow exponenitially beyond anything we can imagine - especially if Kurzweil's predictions are anything to go by.

Finally, if I simply can't win the arguement that Active SETI is a tremendous gamble then active SETI should be done from a neutral location, not our home planet...

Aliens   SETI   Berserker Probe