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338 is not made by SETI astronomers. Like Jansky and Reber’s findings about our Galaxy’s radio emissions, the early data may be ignored or dismissed as tangential to the interests of more established scientists. SETI advocates have argued for decades that we are most likely to encounter a civilization that is very far in advance of our own, by millions or billions of years. Yet, as we have seen, the most scientifically and tech- nologically advanced civilizations may have little or no interest in us; we may not able to detect them. This book has presented an alternative: Our search for signals may be a filtering process that makes contact with alien intelligences nearer our scientific and technological level the most probable outcome. Those civili- zations may be more common than straight-line statistical projections would suggest. We cannot assume relentless scientific and technological advance in other societies; alien civilizations thousands of years older than ours may not be thousands of years more powerful. In the remote detection scenario, we are most likely to detect those who use communications technologies similar to ours. Contact may be most likely within a band of scientific and technological progress that extends from our own level to a few thousand years in our future. If more direct contact takes place, it probably will be with the exploring machines of advanced civilizations, whether or not those devices still func- tion. In this scenario, the time gap that separates our state of scientific and technological development from theirs could be much wider. A Mirror Image. It is the civilizations closest to us in space and time that are most likely to be provoked by discovering us. Their interest could stimulate a desire to exchange knowledge or engage in cooperative endeavors; it could stir concerns about our capabilities and our inten- tions; or it might lead in both directions. Neither the optimists nor the pessimists have proven their cases about the consequences of contact. Our speculations still rest on analogies with human experience, on our cultural and political contexts, and on our per- sonal biases. They still reflect our hopes and our fears. Until we have evidence, the anticipated consequences of contact are matters of belief. Those beliefs have led to expectations that may not be supported by fact. Reducing the scientific uncertainties in the Drake equa- tion may do more than refining the probability of discovery; it also could sharpen our speculations about what contact might bring. Establishing meaningful communication with an extraterrestrial civili- zation may be far more difficult than many had hoped. We cannot assume massive transfers of useful knowledge; exchanging scientific information Some Conclusions Drawn Anticipated Consequences