  The Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) using radio telescopes
is an area of research that is now more than 50 years old. Thus far, both
targeted and wide-area surveys have yet to detect artificial signals from
intelligent civilisations. In this paper, I argue that the incidence of
co-existing intelligent and communicating civilisations is probably small in
the Milky Way. While this makes successful SETI searches a very difficult
pursuit indeed, the huge impact of even a single detection requires us to
continue the search. A substantial increase in the overall performance of radio
telescopes (and in particular future wide-field instruments such as the Square
Kilometre Array, SKA), provide renewed optimism in the field. Evidence for this
is already to be seen in the success of SETI researchers in acquiring
observations on some of the world's most sensitive radio telescope facilities
via open, peer-reviewed processes. The increasing interest in the dynamic radio
sky, and our ability to detect new and rapid transient phenomena such as Fast
Radio Bursts (FRB) is also greatly encouraging. While the nature of FRBs is not
yet fully understood, I argue they are unlikely to be the signature of distant
extra-terrestrial civilisations. As astronomers face a data avalanche on all
sides, advances made in related areas such as advanced Big Data analytics, and
cognitive computing are crucial to enable serendipitous discoveries to be made.
In any case, as the era of the SKA fast approaches, the prospects of a SETI
detection have never have been better.
