Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3: Sunday, August 19, 2018

Exhausted! By the time I got home Sunday afternoon, I was veering into walls.

Panel:
SETI:  What Do We Do When We Find Them? – Andrew Fraknoi,  Guy Consolmagno, SB Divya, Douglas Vakoch, Lonny Brooks

Wow!  Lots of interesting questions about contacting extra-terrestrial intelligence.  While there was a massive amount of smarts on the panel, it was really cool to learn Vatican City has an observatory, and the director of the observatory, Guy J. Consolmagno, was on the panel.

“We’re always looking for ourselves.”

Interesting questions:
How do we not anthropomorphize aliens?
Maybe we should warn them about us?
What are we not including/asking?
What is our motivation for searching for extraterrestrial intelligence?
What are the consequences of contact?
Will aliens be truthful?  (Based on human history, there’s been a lot of dissembling.)
Should we just remain quiet?
Should we be more powerful?

Recommended Reading:
Would You Baptize An Extraterrestrial?

After the panel it was time for another swing through the Dealer’s Room, and find the line for a John Scalzi autograph.

What a great weekend!