Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer for the SETI Institute, will deliver a public address Monday, March 7th starting at noon in the Student Union Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public. The title of the address is "Science Looks for the Aliens." The abstract is below. The event is co-sponsored by the Associated Student Body and the Department of Philosophy and Religion. For more information, contact Neil Manson (namanson@olemiss.edu). 

Are we alone in the universe? The scientific hunt for extraterrestrial life is now into its sixth decade, and we still haven’t discovered any cosmic company. Could all this mean that finding clever beings beyond Earth, even if they exist, is a project for the ages – one that might take centuries or longer?

New approaches and new technology for learning whether anyone is out there suggest that there is good reason to expect that we could uncover evidence even of sophisticated civilizations – the type of aliens we see in the movies and on TV – within a few decades. But if we succeed, what would be the societal impact of learning that something, or someone, is out there?