Seth Shostak Quotes

If we go back to the moon, we're guaranteed second, maybe third place because while we are spending all that money, Russia has its eye on Mars. Landing people on the moon will be terribly consuming of resources we don't have. It sounds great - 'Let's go back. This time we're going to stay.' I don't know why you would want to stay on the moon.

To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational. The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like.

There was a time when the government cut off funding to SETI, basically, and I thought it was something that should continue, and it was a very interesting scientific question.

The conquest of space is not merely a technological project of interest to a handful of select scientists and specialists, valuable though that research and information may be.

Education policy ... has not been driven by sound educational considerations. It has been driven by the budget process.

You can tell an awful lot about a civilization by how it spends its money.

When we explore other planets, we learn a lot about our own.

In order for the United States to do the right things for the long term, it appears to be helpful for us to have the prospect of humiliation. Sputnik helped us fund good science - really good science: the semiconductor came out of it.

We had 83 different space research projects on my last space flight in '98, and they covered the whole gamut.

Institutions are increasingly persuaded that political maneuvering is more important than scientific justification in securing federal funds.

Priorities have to be allocated by the government because they have a complete picture of the country's requirements. If priority is allocated to a manned space programme, I'm confident we can swing it. But it's going to be tremendously expensive - the infrastructure and so on.

Getting a team of scientists on Mars could be transformative.

You should only go into science if you really have a yearning to make scientific discoveries.

I'm a real nerd for science. I love Neil deGrasse Tyson and 'Cosmos' and all that.

I believe there's other forms of intelligence in the universe. I've seen and heard some pretty convincing UFO stuff. Besides, if we're the most intelligent things in the universe... well, that's just depressing.

It's clear that the only thing that is inhibiting us from doing further human exploration of space is money and the will to do it.

You should enter science because you are fascinated by it. That's what I did.

Astrobiology is a great point of contact for science outreach. The public is naturally interested in extra-terrestrial life. Astrobiology provides an accessible point of access that leads to deeper questions.

Part of the point of SETI has always been a search for answers about our own cosmic potential and destiny. If 'they' are out there, it means that there may be hope for us.

Of course, as a kid, I had no idea what was practical: I wanted to be a paleontologist, then an astronaut.

I've always been fascinated with science and exploring our world, from microbes to the solar system.

While NASA talks about 'Are we alone?' as a number one question, they are putting zero money into searching for intelligent life. There's a big disconnect there.

Men and women both have an equal capacity to make money, but they want money for different reasons. Men want money for power and women want it for comfort, and usually not their own comfort, but the comfort of others in their lives.

I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.

I think it's fantastically narcissistic to believe that in the entire universe, with all of the planetary systems that we've already discovered and the countless others that are out there, that we are the only forms of life. Now, the real question is not are there other forms of life out there, but are there other intelligent forms of life out there right now. Because the universe is not only really big but it's also really long. It's been around for a long time; it's going to be around for a long time.