Some of you may have noticed the Berkeley SETI Research Center's statement on sending messages to other stars. Some of you may be surprised at our stance against transmitting. We put out our statement because the SETI Institute has been indicating that they want to start transmitting. They had an invitation-only workshop on transmitting at the SETI Institute on Feb 13, 2015 (I was not on the guest list) where according to the Guardian, opponents of transmitting were called "paranoid." It seems a little harsh. Here's why I think transmitting is a mistake in more detail than the statement gives. This is not necessarily the view of the other people who signed the statement.
- Nobody elected us. I'm a scientist. I don't have the right to speak for the people of Earth even though I have access to a telescope that could. Same goes for any group of scientists. There's even a Declaration of Priciples that SETI scientists supposedly adhere to that says I won't transmit a message in response to a signal without global agreement. But it's OK to transmit messages without first receiving a signal? The representatives of the people of the world (the UN General Assembly) need to set the rules for this game.
As a comparison risk analysis, suppose a 10km asteroid were going to pass through the Earth's atmosphere, igniting fires that would kill a million people. You could divert it, but there would be a 1% chance it would hit the earth destroying all life. Which choice do you make? There are ways to decide. No such analysis can be done for METI.
Scientists can debate each of these points, except the first one. It shouldn't be my decision, and it shouldn't be decision of any small group of scientists.