Intelligent Life

Intelligent Life

Stephen Hawking
lends his name 
to a pursuit 
of science past..
A search out there
takes attention away
from the new physics
of consciousness..
This extension of
thought seeking objects
without first finding
the conscious observer
the white presence
upon which the
search takes place
seems bound for
a disappointment
repeated... 

A new $100 million, 10-year search for intelligent life in the universe was announced today (July 20) by famed scientist Stephen Hawking and other researchers.

The first of the two initiatives announced today, Breakthrough Listen, will be the most powerful search ever taken for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth. The project will survey the 1 million stars in the Milky Way closest to Earth, as well as the 100 closest galaxies.

"We believe that life arose spontaneously on Earth, so in an infinite universe, there must be other occurrences of life," Hawking said at the Royal Society in London, where the initiative was announced. "Somewhere in the cosmos, perhaps intelligent life might be watching these lights of ours, aware of what they mean. Or do our lights wander a lifeless cosmos, unseen beacons announcing that, here on one rock, the universe discovered its existence? Either way, there is no better question. It's time to commit to finding the answer, to search for life beyond Earth. The Breakthrough initiatives are making that commitment. We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know."  (Space.com)