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ET Seekers Win Big Boost

Fringe movement attracts big donors and wide interest as its goes mainstream

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 13, 2009 5:58 PM CST

(Newser) – The truth is out there, and now there’s funding to find it: Everyone from Bill Gates to Cameron Diaz is embracing the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), a movement transitioning from X-Files territory to the mainstream, the Wall Street Journal says. One astronomer left last week's prestigious TED conference with over $1 million to help her "empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company."

SETI, which receives no federal dollars, has been marginalized despite its role in energizing unmanned space exploration. But as scientists continue making new celestial discoveries, SETI is gaining ground—and providing hope that, if alien signals are detected, civilizations can overcome technological and environmental challenges. “It is a proof of existence, that it is possible to survive,” the astronomer explains.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

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In this image released by 20th Century Fox, David Duchovny, left, and Gillian Anderson are shown in a scene from, "The X-Files: I Want to Believe." (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, Diyah Pera)

In a display of private sector science, SETI has been embraced by a geek-chic collective of technocrats, info-moguls, activists and wishful thinkers, everyone from Bill Gates to Cameron Diaz. (Shutter Stock)

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Dr. Jill Tarter tells CNN about her search for "cosmic company." (CNN Video)

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My goal for the next decade would be to search a million stars like the sun and for each one of them to scan about 10 billion frequency channels. - Dr. Jill Tarter, director, SETI Institute

The modern search for extraterrestrial life has been under way for 50 years, operating at the fringe of scientific respectability -- an X-Files endeavor that, critics chortle, verges on pseudo-science. - Robert Lee Hotz, Wall Street Journal

The search centers us in a universe of hope by offering the possibility that we are not alone.
- Robert Lee Hotz, Wall Street Journal

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ET Seekers Win Big Boost