If SETI finds an alien transmission will they really inform the world?

Question

This would seem like a national security issue to me and may be strongly and secretely censored by the US government.

Do you believe this transmission would be made public?

Answer 1

SETI is privately funded and directed organization.  There would be strong motivation for them to release any substantial findings, if only as a justification for their fundraising and a vindication of their method.

The notion that the U.S. government would somehow be threatened by knowledge of space aliens, and would leave no stone unturned to keep that information from being published, is largely a figment of the imagination of UFO enthusiasts who claim such knowledge already exists and is already being kept secret.  This is their excuse for why no evidence can be presented that UFOs are alien spacecraft: they think it's all being completely and systematically covered up.

My recollection of poll results say most people believe in the possibility of extraterrestrial life.  The notion that such information would be "dangerous" doesn't seem to have any support in evidence.

Answer 2

In many ways, a public announcement of a discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence would have societal consequences similar to the announcement of the impending impact of a large asteroid

Answer 3

Im also interested to know this question. I would LOVE to find out that they have found a signal from another world. But i think that the US government will find a way to blow up SETI deleating any evidence of any signals and it will be seen as an "accidental electrical explosion" covered up by the US government. It will be then just be seen as a "conspiracy".

If it was in the hands of Europe, it would be a different story.

Answer 4

thats what they say,go to www.seti.org for more info,and watch the video about the allen aray on the home page

Answer 5

Yes. All this will happen soon.

Google/youtube: "Project Bluebeam"

"Aliens" just in time for 2012! Many will be fooled...

Just do not accept this:

http://www.verichipcorp.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0gXGTcd6...

Answer 6

SETI is not government funded anymore. Plus as far as I know, it doesn't use government facilities. Obviously if they have found something, it's been censored, but I don't think that's likely. Whenever an interesting signal is found, it's usually relayed to other observatories around the world very quickly so they can rule out any local interference, like planes, passing satellites, etc. That sort of thing makes it very hard for a single government to censor it.

When the famous "Aha!" signal was observed back in the 70's, I'm not aware of any attempt to keep it from the public.

Answer 7

SETI is a private organization with worldwide membership.  It is not an organ of the US government.  The US government ceased to fund it in the mid-1960s.  It was considered too silly.  Political suicide to support it.  Fortunately Frank Drake managed to run it on a really low budget until it could get private funding.  And You cannot hide alien radio signals.  

Would the transmission be made public is another question.  What are you expecting?  Do you think alien civilizations speak english?  Personally I think that would be a sure sign of their civilizations high level since all the best people speak english.  Hey, quit that.  I'm trying to be funny here.  

Ok, excuse my feeble attempt at humor.  An alien language would be alien.  I'm no linguist, but I'm guessing an alien language would be impossible to decipher.  Ever.  A language isn't some code that can be broken and all is made clear.  Even with earth languages deciphering is an art.  Attempts at machine translation have been generally hillarious.  And that's when the meaning of the words is known.  Anyone suggesting this would be a simple task simply doesn't know what they are talking about.  

Answer 8

All SETI projects are conducted by private organizations or individuals.  There is an "official" protocol for confirming and announcing a discovery.  You can read it here:

http://www.setileague.org/iaaseti/protde...

The content, if any, of a detected signal may not be understood for many years.

Answer 9

SETI is a private organization run by scientist, a group which is fundamentally incapable of keeping a secret even if they wanted to (which they don't, nor should they)

Front page news as soon as they confirm the signal, I think.