SETI public: The Call That Is Important To Us All

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The Call That Is Important To Us All

Leigh Dayton

Science Writer

Earthlings haven't yet heard from ET, but leading questers for cosmic
company are getting ready to take the call... just in case.

They've established an international committee to set the etiquette for
inter-galactic contact. And Sydney-based cosmologist Paul Davies just took
on the top job.

"We need to get the protocol correct and clarified," noted Professor Davies,
with Macquarie University's Australian Centre for Astrobiology.

"If ET called tonight we'd be in a bit of a muddle about it all," he added,
speaking prior to his first meeting as head of the Post-Detection Science
and Technology Taskgroup.

The body is part of the International Academy of Astronautics and was
founded by radio-astronomer Jill Tarter of the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence (SETI) Institute in California.

"We want the correct details about the discovery event and any
interpretation made about it to get out there," commented Dr Tarter, in
Australia for a lecture tour supported by Sydney University's Centre for
Human Aspects of Science and Technology.

According to Dr Tarter - whose SETI exploits were portrayed by Jodie Foster
in the 1997 film Contact - if a signal from ET is detected it must be
verified quickly and the news spread widely to ensure it's not "co-opted" by
interest groups or politicians.

"Another caveat is that (scientists) will not transmit a reply until there's
a global consensus about whether to reply and what should be said," Dr
Tarter claimed.

The rest is here:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17491815%5E29098,00.html

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