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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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20

Aliens May Be Watching Our Soaps: Expert

Life 'definitely' out there, expert says, but very hard to find

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(Newser) – Aliens are out there, and they may be watching Survivor, says a premier scientist searching for extraterrestrial life. “We are definitely not alone,” SETI project founder Frank Drake tells Der Spiegel. He worries about TV radio transmitters shooting human entertainment into space, greeting aliens with soap operas or "crime programs on television, violence and blood and all that," says Drake, 79. "That is a really inaccurate picture of our civilization.”

But finding these alien cultures will difficult, because unlike humans, they probably don't waste energy that floats off into space. “Every evidence that we find of extraterrestrials has to come from some form of energy wasted,” Drake says. If they find us instead, the ET's likely won't attack Earth: "On average, any extraterrestrial civilization will be 100 light-years away from us. There is going to be no benefit for them to attack."

Martian war machines bring the human race to the brink of extinction in Paramount's screen adaptation of H G Wells' novel 'The War Of The Worlds.'
Martian war machines bring the human race to the brink of extinction in Paramount's screen adaptation of H G Wells' novel 'The War Of The Worlds.'   (Getty Images)
Radio telescopes scan the sky for extraterrestrial signals.
Radio telescopes scan the sky for extraterrestrial signals.   (Shutterstock)
The poster for last year's remake of the sci-fi classic,
The poster for last year's remake of the sci-fi classic, "The Day the Earth Stood Still."   (MovieWeb)
Eric Bana stars as Nero in
Eric Bana stars as Nero in "Star Trek."   (MovieWeb)
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I think it is very probable that these life-forms are carbon-based. We are usually very biased towards thinking that extraterrestrials are like us. But that is just because we do not know what else to think. - Astronomer and astrophysicist
Frank Drake

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sambo
Jun 14, 09 12:45 AM CDT
I think it's all Bush's falt
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Deebles
Jun 13, 09 6:50 PM CDT
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Reader64481089
Jun 13, 09 7:07 PM CDT
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Sauerkraut
Jun 13, 09 7:33 PM CDT
I thought this was disproven on the fact that radio waves don't go as far as we thought they did. But then again, who knows. Reply
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shonangreg
Jun 13, 09 9:36 PM CDT
When was that, Sauerkraut? Radio telescopes "see" billions of light years.
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