The reason is that in Hat Creek, California, USA, they are switching on a new radio telescope.
And the purpose of this radio telescope is to search for extraterrestrial radio signals.
We are talking here about the Allen Telescope Array.
It consists of 350 antennas, each 20 feet in diameter.
Using the separate antennas as if they were one giant dish, radio astronomers will be able to map vast swaths of the sky cheaply and efficiently.
It is the first radio telescope ever designed specifically for the extraterrestrial quest.
What is remarkable about this project is that it is a private initiative.
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, a NASA-sponsored search using existing radio telescopes, was cancelled by Congress in 1993, only a year after it had begun.
The Seti Institute, responsible for the new radio telescopes in Hat Creek, raised money from wealthy individuals in Silicon Valley.
With this money, 25 million Dollars, 42 of the antennas, mass-produced from molds and employing inexpensive telecommunications technology, are now in operation.
It is a very optimistic project.
There are some 200 billion stars in the galaxy, and a significant fraction of them have planets.
Estimates of the number of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy have ranged from one to several millions.
Nobody knows.
The Allen Telescope Array can detect radio signals as far away as 500 light years.
That equals a scope of only 1 million stars.
Besides, to receive a radio signal, the other party needs to be broadcasting right at Earth.
A positive is that if a civilization on another planet is able to be technological so advanced they can send a radio signal straight at us, they will do this because they have the technological level to know we have oxygen in our atmosphere and therefore life.
But what if for example next month a radio signal is received having an artificial and calculated pattern?
We will not be able to understand what the message means.
And we are not able to send a message back.
Let alone ever meeting soon being at least 500 light years away from each other.
The issue is that a civilization on another planet smart enough to find out we have oxygen in our atmosphere and therefore life and technologically able to send a radio signal specifically to us, is a civilization more advanced than we are.
They are superior.
Better.
As a consequence this will instil a tremendous fear in human beings.
It will turn everything upside down.
Like now, the United States is the greatest and most powerful country in the world.
Once the Allen Telescope Array has received messages from a superior power, the position of the United States drastically changes.
The Big Boss becomes suddenly the Small Son of the Big Brother.
That will have psychologically devastating effects.
The fear and sudden feelings of inferiority will make the world population defensive and aggressive.
If a civilization on another planet is truly advanced, they understand this will happen in case they send radio signals.
And they will decide to stay away from us to avoid conflict.
However, it also works the other way.
In case we are able one day to send out radio signals hoping to get in touch with other civilisations.
Our initiative will be returned with negativity.
The conclusion is that it is not the time yet to reach out into the Galaxy to look for life, as we know it.
We must first put our own house in order.
To learn to live on Earth together in peace and harmony.
And that seems to be still light-years away.
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To learn more about the Allen Telescope Array, click on:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/10/12/409784.aspx
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