Seth Shostak is the Senior Astronomer at SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) in Mountain View, CA

Seth is responsible for numerous outreach activities associated with the SETI Institute. He is editor for Explorer, (a monthly publication for supporters of the Institute), gives more than 50 talks annually for both academic and general audiences, and writes magazine articles (and books) about SETI. He also teaches informal education classes on astronomy and other topics in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the host for the SETI Institute's weekly radio program Are We Alone?

His talk is called "SETI enters its fifth decade. We still haven't uncovered a confirmed "peep" from any cosmic company. Could this mean that finding aliens is a project for the ages -- one that might take centuries or longer? There is good reason to expect that success might be just around the corner. Why this is so, and what contact would mean, are the subject of this talk on continuing efforts to establish our place in the universe of thinking.

TIME: 2:00 PM Friday Talks 2