vivweb01blog

  A debate on this subject between scientists in the SETI field has been simmering in the background ever since the first attempt was made to send a ‘letter to the cosmos’ via the Arrecibo message in 1974. The debate recently resurfaced in response to NASA’s proposal to rejuvenate the project by setting up a ' Beacon in the Galaxy '. At first sight, there might appear to be good reasons to be wary of advertising our presence and credentials as intelligent life forms – however friendly we might think a visiting alien species might be. The key factors which tend to undermine the argument against the proposal, however, are – space and time.  A detailed look at the implications of the sheer vastness of   both of these dimensions has certainly convinced me that the likelihood of our own species ever encountering or even receiving communications from an alien species is very low. You can see why in my recent blog entitled ‘ Are we Alone in the Universe ’. Even if any of...

 W e in the UK are currently experiencing an attack on our personal financial resources, the like of which we have not seen since the financial meltdown of 2008-9.  The 'UK cost of living crisis' as it has been called has been a long time in the making. What has caused it ? The answer is complex, but amounts to a 'perfect storm' of coincident events. The combined effects of 10 years of artificially-induced low interest rates and excessive quantitative easing by central banks conspired to prevent 'normal' levels of inflation throughout the 2010s. This unprecedented (and in retrospect somewhat foolhardy) interference with the financial system effectively stored up inflationary pressure, and this was exacerbated by the economic effects of the Covid pandemic.  The worldwide economic 'recovery' resulting from the lifting of Covid restrictions  a nd the recent Ukraine conflict have  triggered a rapid increase in demand resulting in a surge in the world price o...