Astronomer Seth Shostak is making a bold prediction. He claims Seti’s methods of searching for Alien life will result in contact by 2040 with extraterrestrial beings. If this occurs, human history will change forever.

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The first detection of intelligent extraterrestrial life will likely come within the next quarter-century, a prominent alien hunter predicts.

By 2040 or so, astronomers will have scanned enough star systems to give themselves a great shot of discovering alien-produced electromagnetic signals, said Seth Shostak of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, Calif.

“I think we’ll find E.T. within two dozen years using these sorts of experiments,” Shostak said here Thursday (Feb. 6) during a talk at the 2014 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) symposium at Stanford University.

We will see if Shostak’s prediction comes through.