If you’ve ever wondered how anyone in their right mind can get excited about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, consider this. We live on a planet swamped by life forms, yet we don’t know how life got going, or where. Discovering that it had also begun elsewhere in the universe would be an amazing breakthrough. Discovering that intelligent life had evolved elsewhere would be even more extraordinary. At a stroke, it would answer some of the most profound questions – scientific and cultural – that humanity has asked.
You can understand, then, the frustration of astronomers that not one dollar, pound or…
