SETI Institute

These guys are looking for extra-​terrestrial intelligence and habitable Earth-​like planets (among many, many other things). It honestly doesn’t get any cooler than that! I somehow found myself in a job where I get to work with brilliant minds, and thoroughly enjoyed my visit at SETI.
Check out their work with TED and other video lectures — hours well spent!

The SETI Institute itself is alright. From what you see going to a Wednesday seminar, it’s basically just a conference room. The facilities seem nice though. Nice bathrooms with showers. Large room for seminars. Chairs were pretty uncomfortable though.
I’ve only been to 1 talk there so far. It was reasonably interesting, but was different than what I expected. I’ll have to go back and see another… and eat one of the free PB&J sandwiches.

Awesome what they’re doing and I was surprised it’s here in our town.

I like what these guys do and they’re good neighbors to have. I never see a lot of cars at this location but sometimes I see a bunch of peeps just sitting around with their laptops. I also see channel 5 at their building often, hopefully I’ll be in the frame one time. :)

I still can not believe we live less than a mile from this amazing place! Mental Climax indeed! Thank you Jodie Foster for your support of this place!

If you want the opportunity to make a peanut butter nutella sandwich with Frank Drake, the writer of the famous Drake Equation on the amount of intelligent life in the galaxy, SETI Institute is the only place on the planet you can have that opportunity.
The SETI colloquium series is held every week on Wednesday from noon to one. I have gone numerous times, and love this opportunity to rub elbows with the genius’s over at SETI.
My day was made when I made a sandwich at the same time Frank did. If you’re the type of person who admires scientists, SETI is your one stop shop for satisfaction.

Fantastic.
Nothing makes me reach that ultimate mental climax than a decent three hour lecture series where brilliant people present their views and opinions on topics spanning the arts and science. In reflection, why hasn’t a man asked me out on a date to a lecture? I’d totally go ;) Conventional dates are soooooooo boring.
This evening was the perfect mix for me: New Media studies, emerging Software Studies and a glimpse into Constellation, the program at NASA. SETI is situated on a pleasant campus and consists of research labs and centers to provide further information/​education to the public. We were greeted at the door, confirmations checked off the list and then shook our hands because the presenter likes to have a name to a face.
All three speakers were excellent in their delivery and obvious experience and knowledge being brought to the podium. I enjoyed the FAQ session after each speaker, made even more so interesting by a delightful British man who kept me on the edge of my seat with his lovely accent. *sigh* After the lecture, we were encouraged to mingle and meet the speakers as well as members of the institute. Such a great way to network and exchange ideas and personal thoughts.
Bravo to hosting such impressive and stimulating lecture series. I’m looking forward to attending more in the near future.

The S.E.T.I. Institute’s mission is to «Search for Extra-​Terrestrial Intelligence» and «explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.» If you have ever seen the film «Contact» with Jodie Foster, you will have some idea of what S.E.T.I. does — (except I don’t think they build ‘star gates’ or go walking on trippy extraterrestrial beaches!) This is the organization that Carl Sagan was associated with and it is right here in the Bay Area!
The Institute is located in Mountain View but they are also currently building the «Allen Telescope Array» in Hat Creek, CA. With this new radio telescope array the Institute will be able to scan the skies for signals — signals sent by civilizations many light-​years from our own — with greater speed and accuracy than ever before.
The organization sponsors and organizes many educational programs and lectures that are open to the public. And the folks who work at the Institute, like Frank Drake (the founder and original visionary), Seth Shostak and Jill Tartar, can often be seen as commentators on shows on the Discovery Channel, History Channel etc. S.E.T.I. scientists and researchers publish articles both on
and in trade and peer-​reviewed astronomy publications, and they discuss their projects on radio shows, even the crazy ones like «Coast to Coast AM» (which is great if you are on a long roadtrip!) For this reason there are even people who think that the S.E.T.I. Institute is a government disinformation-​producing agency created to cover up things like Area-​51 and Roswell! X-​Files! I love it!
But mostly I just love the S.E.T.I. Institute because it is a little utopian enclave in our increasingly dystopic world — a bunch of scientists who still believe that making contact with others, even radically different others, is a *good* thing and a worthy project for humanity to invest it. When you realize this mission is in fact a dream and a product of the same xenophobic and paranoid generation that brought us the Cold War, and, alas, is currently bringing us the Iraq War and the «Wall» between Mexico and the U.S., the fact that the S.E.T.I. Institute even exists is a little ray of hope!