Top SETI astronomer says we'll detect alien civilizations within 20 years thanks to advances in computing

This is the news from a top SETI astronomer who says there should be anywhere from 10,000 to 1,000,000 intelligent civilizations in our galaxy alone, not to mention all the other billions of galaxies. If Drake's Equation holds true, our universe is absolutely teeming with life.

This is exciting news because it indicates that we may find answers to this question in our own lifetime. The detection of a verified intelligent signal from another world would, to put it lightly, rock our own world. The religious, spiritual and philosophical implications are enormous.

Of course, I'm one of the people who believes there's already life on Mars -- not intelligent life capable of radio signals, but living, breathing microbes. If you follow the reports from NASA, you'll find that the evidence is overwhelming. But NASA has so far remained silent on the issue.

A discovery from SETI would be a whole different discovery: intelligent life, capable of broadcasting radio signals! The day we discover this, if we do, will change humanity forever.

• If intelligent life exists elsewhere in our galaxy, advances in computer processing power and radio telescope technology will ensure we detect their transmissions within two decades.
• Seth Shostak, the SETI Institute's senior astronomer, based his prediction on accepted assumptions about the likelihood of alien civilisations existing, combined with projected increases in computing power.
• Shostak, whose calculations will be published in a forthcoming edition of the space science journal Acta Astronautica, first estimated the number of alien civilisations in our galaxy that might currently be broadcasting radio signals.
• For this he used a formula created in 1961 by astronomer Frank Drake which factors in aspects such the number of stars with planets, how many of those planets might be expected to have life, and so on.
• To find them will involve observing and inspecting radio emissions from most of the galaxy's 100 billion stars.
• The time necessary for this formidable task can be estimated from the capabilities of planned radio telescopes such as SETI's 1-hectare Allen Telescope Array and the internationally run Square Kilometre Array and expected increases in the power of the microchips that sift through radio signals from space.
• Within a generation, radio emissions from enough stars will be observed and analysed to find the first alien civilisation, Shostak estimates.
• "It is altogether reasonable to project the development of human technology, based upon past trends and planned investments," he says.
• "But predicting the date, the decade or even the century of contact is another matter because the 'other end' of the communications link is completely out of our hands.