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Editorial
Nature 421, 769 (20 February 2003) | doi:10.1038/421769b
In support of xeno-optimism
Abstract
Despite recent gloom, there are worse things on which to spend personal wealth than a hunt for intelligent extraterrestrials.
How easy it is to scoff at 'desperate' seekers of aliens, as the science-fiction writer Brian Aldiss did in these pages two years ago (Nature 409, 1080; 2001). He touched some nerves: aliens are indeed as real as ghosts or numerous deities (in other words, they continue to be purely imaginary); their fictitious portrayals impede understanding; their air of being the product of scientific thinking is indeed spurious.
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