To mark fifty years of research activity engaged in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, a lecture by the director of the SETI Institute, Seth Shostak, was held at the International Astronautical Conference in Prague. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is part of the permanent activity of the International Academy of Astronautics, which has been holding a research group on the subject for twenty years. Shostak reviewed the activity taking place in the field of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, first and foremost radio search - and also dealt with astronomical discoveries concerning the possibility of life outside the earth - starting with the discovery of water in various places in the solar system, continuing through the discovery of extraterrestrial planets, and ending with recent research on The development of life on Earth, indicating that the phenomenon of life in the universe is not as rare and unique as astronomers and exobiologists believed years ago.
Several discussions on SETI took place yesterday, and among other things, changes in the search methodologies for extraterrestrial intelligence and mathematical developments based on advanced statistical tools related to the Drake equation, the long-standing methodological tool that guides the search for extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy, were discussed.
