Aliens

[nlm]

The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity. - Carl Sagan

I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. - Carl Sagan from "The Demon-Haunted World"

You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe. - Carl Sagan

One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. it is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise.) - Carl Sagan, from "the Fine Art of Baloney Detection"

I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true. - Carl Sagan from "The Burden Of Skepticism"

If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits? - Carl Sagan from "The Demon-Haunted World"

We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy which is one of billions of other galaxies which make up a universe which may be one of a very large number, perhaps an infinite number, of other universes. That is a perspective on human life and our culture that is well worth pondering. - Carl Sagan

The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there's no place for it in the endeavor of science. We do not know beforehand where fundamental insights will arise from about our mysterious and lovely solar system. The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources. - Carl Sagan from "Cosmos"

If some good evidence for life after death were announced, I'd be eager to examine it; but it would have to be real scientific data, not mere anecdote.... Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy. - Carl Sagan from "The Demon-Haunted World"

It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. - Carl Sagan

[nlm]

How do you propose we contact them, Weasel? You say it like nobody's trying to do that already. What about SETI and other such organizations?

They just hear, they aren't actually sending messages.

Other organizations have beamed messages to key stars and galaxies which are theoried to have life (how they determined that, I don't know).

My understanding (which may be out of date - which is most likely) is that since the launch of orbital platforms observatories, we have had the ability to pick up smaller mineral (rock) based planets (as opposed to gas based planets) due to changes in light emmisions from stars being viewed as the planets pass in between the star and us. How they can tell that they are rock based is something I don't know - but they say they can. Then based on projected distances from the star to the planet orbiting it and data on that stars output they can estimate surface conditions on that planet and take some sort of guess as to if it could support life. I'm sure I'm wildly over simplifying this.