SETI: Science or Pseudoscience?
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| SETI Radios |
SETI is the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, but are the methods real or fake science?
My discussion group: John, Tanish, Trey, Gracelyn
Aliens are often thought of as nothing more than a conspiracy theory; however, a team of scientists are working towards finding signs of this intelligent life through the detection of radio signals from space. Although the SETI mission has been going on for 60 years, their radio efforts have not seen any definite results. Despite this, I still believe that the methods of the mission are scientific, and that this search is not pseudoscience.
Pseudoscience is defined by a few conditions: it claims to be a science, is unfalsifiable, and may have empirical evidence, but the evidence seems to only support the theory. In this way, some may claim that the search to find intelligent life despite having no results after all their research is implementing false evidence to support their theory. The theory of intelligent life is indeed falsifiable, even if we do not currently have the technology to prove it. Because of this, I do not believe it is wrong for scientists to continue using any hope of proof that they find in order to continue their mission. Therefore, the method that SETI uses is definitely scientific.
With the knowledge that the SETI radios have not found much solid evidence, and that their method is scientific, how can the search be improved? Some scientists speculate that the frequencies may just be out of the range of what we are trying to pick up, so at this point we need to start experimenting! In all actuality we have no clue how extraterrestrials may communicate, but SETI must open up new avenues in their scientific research because microwave detection is not proving successful.
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