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In this exclusive interview, we speak with Prof. Jill Tarter (Co-Founder and Bernard M. Oliver Chair of the SETI Institute). We discuss her lifelong work with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)…
What 190 conversations with the world's leading thinkers reveal about the nature of reality
From the archive
The discipline I worked in was called SETI- The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Of course, that latter word is a misnomer. We don't know how to define intelligence or detect it at a distance. What we have done is to use technology as a proxy for intelligence- and therefore we have been looking for evidence of someone else's technology.
— Jill TarterPioneering astronomer & SETI Institute director searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
We used to think life could only exist in a very constrained rage of parameters; between the boiling and freezing point of water, at neutral pH, without too much pressure, with access to sunlight. What we know now is that life is more robust, and more opportunistic than we could have ever thought.
— Jill TarterPioneering astronomer & SETI Institute director searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
The iron in the haemoglobin in your blood was cooked up in the heart of a massive star that blew up about 8 billion years ago. We understand now in pretty good detail, how intimately connected we are with the cosmos.
— Jill TarterPioneering astronomer & SETI Institute director searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
The question as to whether we are alone has been asked by humans almost since they first crawled out of the cave! For millennia we used to ask the priests, philosophers or shaman- whoever we thought was wise- how to answer that question. They always came back with a belief system. What makes SETI different today is that instead of the verb 'to believe' we're trying to use the verb 'to explore'. We want to see what's actually out there instead of just believing what someone tells us is out there.
— Jill TarterPioneering astronomer & SETI Institute director searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
Although, today, the universe appears more bio-friendly than it ever was. That doesn't mean it is inhabited. We still have to prove that.
— Jill TarterPioneering astronomer & SETI Institute director searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
Trying to figure out how we fit into the cosmos is old, it's a basic human question.
— Jill TarterPioneering astronomer & SETI Institute director searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
What makes SETI different today is that instead of the verb "to believe" we're trying to use the verb "to explore". We want to see what's actually out there instead of just believing what someone tells us is out there.
— Jill TarterPioneering astronomer & SETI Institute director searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
The iron in the haemoglobin in your blood was cooked up in the heart of a massive star that blew up about 8 billion years ago. We understand now in pretty good detail, how intimately connected we are with the cosmos.
— Jill TarterPioneering astronomer & SETI Institute director searching for extraterrestrial intelligence
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