The Science of Finding "Intelligent" Life in the Universe

Talk Abstract

Since the dawn of our civilization, humanity has looked beyond the horizon, driven by curiosity and a desire to find company in this vast universe. Throughout history, we have developed new technologies to travel farther, explore unfamiliar worlds, and expand our understanding of who else shared our Earth. Today, as we build ever more powerful rockets that carry us deeper into space, we continue our search for company in this vast universe through the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). In this talk, we will look back to the 1960s, when the first modern SETI searches began, trace the sporadic efforts and foundational theories developed over the past six decades, and explore how recent advances in technology are now giving us, for the first time, a realistic opportunity to search for our counterparts among the stars.