PART 3

SETI 3

Philosopher Clive Goodall will rebut Frank Tipler's arguments, and
Noted philosopher Professor Neil Tennant will present his view of why
there could be major problems in actually decoding the message on an ETI
signal. This may be the first time that philosophers have presented
papers at a "technical" meeting on SETI, particularly one organized by
SPIE. Dr. Guillermo Lemarchand will describe both radio and optical
SETI activities in Argentina and give an account of the MANIA optical
SETI project devised by the late Professor Shvartsman of the former
Soviet Union. Drs. John Rather and Monte Ross (conference co-chairman)
will give accounts of their approaches to interstellar laser communi-
cations, while this author will present a review paper and describe the
amateur approach to optical SETI. There will be a discussion at the end
of the conference, moderated by Charles Townes, who earlier will talk
about his CO2 optical SETI laser work, and the CO2 OSETI observations
being conducted by Dr. Albert Betz on Mount Wilson.

Note that as with previous SETI publications, the latest book by
SETI pioneer Professor Frank Drake and Dava Sobel IS ANYONE OUT THERE?
hardly mentions the optical approach. This conference intends to
redress that omission. This "controversial" OSETI conference should be
a "fun" event but you do not need to be a laser communications engineer
or SETI scientist to attend - you only need a curiosity about "our"
place in the grand scheme of things.

With large telescopes, Optical SETI is the one branch of visible
astronomy, save for solar astronomy, that can be done during the day
under a clear blue sky!

Last October, we saw the celebration of the Quincentennial of
Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas and the official start
of NASA's Microwave Observing Project (MOP), recently renamed the High
Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS). Numerous articles on SETI have
appeared in recent magazine publications, including the September 1992
issue of LIFE, the October issue of ASTRONOMY, and the November/December
issue of SMITHSONIAN AIR & SPACE. See also recent issues of TIME and
NEWSWEEK. The November issue of SKY & TELESCOPE has a long article
about microwave SETI and mentions the optical approach. This is
probably the first published popular account of modern OSETI in the
printed media. See the bibliography at the end of this article.

I have also begun the construction of what I believe to be the
world's first amateur optical SETI (AMOSETI) Observatory. This will be
based around the Meade 10-inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and i
one of the most advanced on the market today for use under computer and
CCD control. In the last paper of the conference, I will be reporting
on the amateur approach to Optical SETI and any work done to date on my
observatory system. In many respects, the approach adopted by the
author for AMOSETI is similar to that employed by Shvartsman and Beskin
in the MANIA project, i.e., looking for very short pulses rather than CW
beacon signals. It is possible that AMOSETI will lead to a renaissance
in amateur astronomy, where light pollution - the bane of astronomers -
has no effect on ETI detection sensitivity!

At this time during the sharp decline in the industrial-military
complex, can there be a more ennobling way for defense conversion - to
turn laser swords into SETI or CETI plowshares and help discover that we
are not alone within the Milky Way galaxy? Monte and I look forward to
seeing you at this conference at the rebirth of a new branch of science.


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