SETI stops search for alien life.

[silverpig]

Didn't I hear somewhere that they've already scanned the entire available radio spectrum several times at this point and they've found nothing? Sounds like a waste of time to me.

I believe they've scanned the entire sky in the band they think signals would be sent, but not nearly the entire radio spectrum. They also have to scan the sky, which means only intermittent observation of any particular point, which means you may miss something.

Their choice of frequency is perfectly rational to us right now. Makes sense to use it.

The big achilles heel of SETI is the receivers are sensitive enough to detect earth-like transmissions only out to some small distance, like 60 light years or so IIRC. By earth-like, I mean planetary radio and TV broadcasts. Beyond that, an alien race would have to be transmitting a very powerful signal for no other reason than to be detected.

 

[irishScott]

SETI played a huge role in advancing distributed computing, but now I have to agree its stated objectives are kind of a waste.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Like someone else pointed out they are just listening. As far as Stfu it's too late. All of our radio signals are out there and there's nothing we can do about it.

I understand about SETI. My comment was just an aside. I suspect that there is probably a narrow time in which a technological civilization broadcasts undirected EM of any significant strength.

I believe it was Abdus Salam who was once asked "what should we do if an alien civilization calls?" replied "Don't answer!".

 

[SMOGZINN]

Even scarier to me, in a certain way, is that we may be the smartest, most evolved beings in the universe. We may be the best that the universe has to offer. How sad is that?

That would be awesome! That means we get to build the vast intergalactic empire completely unopposed.
It is much better then finding out that there is already a vast intergalactic empire in place and all we can do is become serfs or be destroyed.

 

[dighn]

That would be awesome! That means we get to build the vast intergalactic empire completely unopposed.
It is much better then finding out that there is already a vast intergalactic empire in place and all we can do is become serfs or be destroyed.

yeah and when we meet new races we could act all mysterious and call ourselves the "first ones" or something. oh man wouldn't that be a hoot

 

[irishScott]

yeah and when we meet new races we could act all mysterious and call ourselves the "first ones" or something. oh man wouldn't that be a hoot

So all those 4chan trolls are ahead of their time?

 

[Soundmanred]

We're the only civilization dumb enough to think it would work.

 

[SKORPI0]

I believe it was Abdus Salam who was once asked "what should we do if an alien civilization calls?" replied "Don't answer!".

Similar thought from Stephen Hawking, I think we should listen to him...

Don’t talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking

Hawking uses them to lead on to a serious point: that a few life forms could be intelligent and pose a threat. Hawking believes that contact with such a species could be devastating for humanity.

He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then move on: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”


He concludes that trying to make contact with alien races is “a little too risky”. He said: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

 

[dighn]

So all those 4chan trolls are ahead of their time?

possibly :hmm:

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Similar thought from Stephen Hawking, I think we should listen to him...

Don’t talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking

The problem is that we must extrapolate from a single data point, us. It is entirely possible that we are the only technological society period. We don't even know if that is an evolutionary plus or a dead end. It could very well be the latter. As an example it would be hard to imagine that we wouldn't have developed a von Neumann machine in the next hundred years or so. As time passes technology trickles down from large organizations to individuals. The computer is a prime example. Let's travel down this road a few hundred years more. An individual or small organization could make one, drop it, and walk away. End of the world.

Assuming that intelligent beings occasionally become technological societies and that they occasionally survive self destruction, one evolutionary imperative would of necessity still survive and that is survival itself. If a species does not put itself first in that regard it becomes extinct. If mice marched into the mouths of cats they would not be here today. Consequently if needed resources are within reach then they must be obtained.

The ones we really have to fear are any who have achieved FTL travel. That's because they aren't quantitatively more intelligent, but qualitatively so. One common misunderstanding is that FTL travel is impossible, but that's not automatically true.

The analogy I'll use is one of a car and a dog. Now from the perspective of a dog an automobile is an impossible and incomprehensible object, yet it exists. How long would you have to teach it to make one? Forever of course because the concepts and techniques needed to make one are eternally inaccessible to its mind. Likewise we view the speed of light as an unbreakable limit in science, but is that true or are we the dog? Could it be that it's not insurmountable to some creature who sees far beyond relativity? Something so far beyond us that we aren't even intelligent by anything meaningful to them? If so that imperative of survival still holds. If our technological squawks lead them to us how would they react given their unfathomable minds and incomprehensible ethics and morals if those terms can even apply?

The bottom line is that while I might be curious about such creatures I wouldn't place much hope in my survival or that of my world if I ever met them. My barking might not endear me to them.

 

[techs]

II believe it was Abdus Salam who was once asked "what should we do if an alien civilization calls?" replied "Don't answer!".

"You've reached the planet Earth. We can't come to the phone right now because we are out pillaging and raping the most advanced civilizations in the cosmos. If you leave your name, phone number and a good time to invade your planet, we'll get back to you"

 

[zinfamous]

Utter crap. Projects like these are probably one of the few decent uses of taxpayer money.

SETI?

not really. they could have tuned their array towards Techs' house 2 decades ago and saved billions in the meantime.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

"You've reached the planet Earth. We can't come to the phone right now because we are out pillaging and raping the most advanced civilizations in the cosmos. If you leave your name, phone number and a good time to invade your planet, we'll get back to you"

 

[techs]

SETI?

not really. they could have tuned their array towards Techs' house 2 decades ago and saved billions in the meantime.

If they had they would have discovered a new moon. Or, rather, two half moons.

 

[MrPickins]

SETI has always been a complete waste of time and resources.

Your post matches your avatar perfectly. :thumbsup:

 

[ThatsABigOne]

That is why more focus should go for Folding@Home. Nobody gives a shit about believing some crazed woman reporting that aliens abducted her. Finding cures for diseases is another matter.

 

[SMOGZINN]

The analogy I'll use is one of a car and a dog. Now from the perspective of a dog an automobile is an impossible and incomprehensible object, yet it exists. How long would you have to teach it to make one? Forever of course because the concepts and techniques needed to make one are eternally inaccessible to its mind. Likewise we view the speed of light as an unbreakable limit in science, but is that true or are we the dog? Could it be that it's not insurmountable to some creature who sees far beyond relativity? Something so far beyond us that we aren't even intelligent by anything meaningful to them? If so that imperative of survival still holds. If our technological squawks lead them to us how would they react given their unfathomable minds and incomprehensible ethics and morals if those terms can even apply?

The bottom line is that while I might be curious about such creatures I wouldn't place much hope in my survival or that of my world if I ever met them. My barking might not endear me to them.

Your analogy fails. We can understand the universe. We do not think FTL travel is impossible. There are all sorts of possible loopholes around relativity. The problem is one of energy, and no amount of smarts is going to get over that problem.

So while FTL travel might exist, and there might be things out there a LOT smarter then us, we are all still bound by the same physical laws of the universe, laws which we, in our limited way, can and are starting to understand through generation after generation of methodical study. Which I think is what any species, no matter how smart, would have to do it.

Simply put, you have to test the universe to understand it, and each test leads to the next. It is not enough to be smart, you have to be methodical.

 

[zinfamous]

If they had they would have discovered a new moon. Or, rather, two half moons.

I lol.

 

[Cyco]

The greatest evidence of intelligent life in the universe is the fact that they haven't tried to contact us.

 

[Bignate603]

I don't really see a problem with it cutting taxpayer funding for it, I don't believe it should have ever been given tax dollars in the first place. For projects like this if people want to see them done they should donate their own money to it.

 

[AlienCraft]

Here's a scarier thought. There are millions of civilizations out there, but humans are considered the "neckbeards" of intelligent life. Hence, we are on everyones "ignore" list.

I have said this many times. :thumbsup:

 

[BoomerD]

bingo huge waste of time. maybe there is a use for it later one if/when humans do a much bigger push to expand into space.....

...but there could be a million things more worthwhile now even from a purely scientific perspective; imagine all of SETI crunching for F@H. Sure that is purely scientific as well as the results basically go into generating papers, but I have a gut feeling that it will produce more useful tangible results that trickle down a lot faster than SETI would.

Has Folding ever produced any real, tangible results?

The concept is good, but what has it accomplished?

SETI?

not really. they could have tuned their array towards Techs' house 2 decades ago and saved billions in the meantime.

Why? There's no intelligent life there either...

 

[Howard]

I bet the aliens are pretty pleased that we've figured out what our fishbowl looks like.

 

[SlickSnake]

Article claims "SETI hunt for alien life put on hold" so they aren't looking for INTELLIGENT life just ALIEN life. Someone just needs to point them to OT and P&N. They will find plenty of non-intelligent alien life here, like Rudeguy. But since I'm now on his ignore list for posting about what he stubbornly fails to comprehend or acknowledge, he will sadly never see this post and how much I want to have his troglodyte love babies.

 

[BoomerD]

Article claims "SETI hunt for alien life put on hold" so they aren't looking for INTELLIGENT life just ALIEN life. Someone just needs to point them to OT and P&N. They will find plenty of non-intelligent alien life here, like Rudeguy. But since I'm now on his ignore list for posting about what he stubbornly fails to comprehend or acknowledge, he will sadly never see this post and how much I want to have his troglodyte love babies.

Oddly enough, he just said almost exactly the same thing at the last lifer's party.