SETI stops search for alien life.

[dawp]

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.

Not exactly. there was a signal that was detected but they could not find it again or truly figure what the source was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal

 

[dawp]

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.

SETI uses BOINC which has a lot more project than just SETI.

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/

I have 5 ones, including seti, that I run.

Einstein@home, detecting gravity waves from spinning neutron stars.
rosetta@home, similar to folding
spinhenge@home, research of nano-magnetic molecules.
SIMAP, similarity matrix of proteins

 

[0roo0roo]

I recall recently the hypothesis that galactic civilizations may be subject to Darwinism, in that those who draw attention to themselves are more likely to be subject to predation by others. The winners survive by heeding the old maxim of "STFU". Hawking said something to this effect as well.

Happy Star Trek mentality is probably suicidal.

Well if they already solved the enormous problem of just getting here within a reasonable time like a lifetime or less, there is no hiding regardless.

 

[davmat787]

Personally I would like to see more money thrown at oceanic research. You know that old saying "we know more about the surface of the moon than the depths of our oceans?" Combine whatever is true of that statement with the importance of our oceans to our existence and I think a claim can be made for NASA type missions for our seas. Not as sexy as listening for aliens, but far more important to our immediate needs.

Besides, there are over 100 Billion galaxies in the known universe, does anyone really think our planet has a monopoly on life?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

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.

Roll over. Good boy!

Why on earth do you think some three pounds of goop inside our skulls can understand all of objective reality? That's not science it's ego. We are limited by what we are just like a dog is. Objectivism is a product of poor reasoning skills. We don't understand ANYTHING that way. A mouse can understand what a mouse can, a dog what it can, and a human is the same. We are limited beings subject to our ability to comprehend which isn't infinite, nor is there any reason to believe it's the ultimate which can be achieved. Hubris may define us, but not what can exist.

 

[classy]

Now, ET can't phone home..................................

 

[StrangerGuy]

Meh fvck SETI. Lets divert more funds on War on terror/drugs while discussing whether this very Earth was made within 10,000 years.

Heck, the world is doomed next year so why should we even cared about anything?

 

[Paul98]

This is kind of sad but I do think the money can be much better spent. I never expected that alien life could be found this way at least right now. Maybe when we find some other earth like planets where we think that there might be life we can try again. But even then I don't expect anything with the technology we are using.

Roll over. Good boy!

Why on earth do you think some three pounds of goop inside our skulls can understand all of objective reality? That's not science it's ego. We are limited by what we are just like a dog is. Objectivism is a product of poor reasoning skills. We don't understand ANYTHING that way. A mouse can understand what a mouse can, a dog what it can, and a human is the same. We are limited beings subject to our ability to comprehend which isn't infinite, nor is there any reason to believe it's the ultimate which can be achieved. Hubris may define us, but not what can exist.

As for FTL travel, we know it's a fact that through normal methods of accelerating an object we can never get it to move the speed of light. We have also so far found nothing that can move information FTL. Even with quantum entanglement you can not send information FTL. What we would need is some way to warp space to make the distance smaller, worm home, or some other exotic way to move through space.

Now if we were to meet an alien race that was far more advanced than us that could communicate with us. If they were to show us from the begining to the end on how something works we would be able to understand it. We might not understand ALL the "why's" but that doesn't matter if we can explain how something works. We would just be continuing to do experiments like we are doing today. There are plenty of things that we don't understand why certain things are. But the experiments show that's how things in the universe work, and we can use that to create things that do work.

 

[kadak]

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

Yup, complete waste of resources. They should invest more in useful and necessary things like war, cause you know, it's war, you just gotta have it.

 

[dr150]

That's great!

Jodie Foster can come work for me.....

BTW, the ending pf Contact sucked balls....

 

[qliveur]

But this will free up money for other government projects like tax cuts for the wealthy. Rejoice.

ftfy

Unless you're deliberately trying to look like a hypocrite, the "TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY!!!!!1!!!1111!!!!11ONE" cliché just doesn't work the same magic after your champion spent three quarters of a trillion dollars of taxpayers' money to pay off the people who got him elected.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Roll over. Good boy!

Why on earth do you think some three pounds of goop inside our skulls can understand all of objective reality? That's not science it's ego. We are limited by what we are just like a dog is. Objectivism is a product of poor reasoning skills. We don't understand ANYTHING that way. A mouse can understand what a mouse can, a dog what it can, and a human is the same. We are limited beings subject to our ability to comprehend which isn't infinite, nor is there any reason to believe it's the ultimate which can be achieved. Hubris may define us, but not what can exist.

You are still making the 'one man must be able to understand it all' fallacy. I may not be able to comprehend the entire universe, but I don't have to. There are tens of thousands of people working on those problems, and more join our ranks every day. All I have to do is understand one small part of it, and add that to the collective knowledge of our species.
It has been a long time since any one person could know the sum total of mankind's knowledge, that is why we have invented devices to store that knowledge and ways to retrieve it when needed, from books to the internet. Now we are even working on complex computer systems that will help us to know what knowledge we need.

Working together we can knit together an understand of the whole, and working together we can use that knowledge to do practical things.

 

[techs]

Unless you're deliberately trying to look like a hypocrite, the "TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY!!!!!1!!!1111!!!!11ONE" cliché just doesn't work the same magic after your champion spent three quarters of a trillion dollars of taxpayers' money to pay off the people who got him elected.

Oh, just stop the b.s. already. George Bush paid off his people, the super rich with trillions.
And under Obama taxes are actually a bit lower. Obama had to pull us out of the disaster he inherited. While the super rich have seen their share of the national wealth skyrocket while the rest of us have far less.

 

[BoberFett]

Yup, complete waste of resources. They should invest more in useful and necessary things like war, cause you know, it's war, you just gotta have it.

Exactly how many times were you dropped on your head as an infant?

 

[IcePickFreak]

<-- P&N

 

[RampantAndroid]

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.

No, our probes are out there with greetings and all that. Who knows how far our radio waves travel before becoming background noise.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Gotta spend that money on killing people in the middle east and war profiteering!

 

[Fritzo]

This is kind of sad but I do think the money can be much better spent. I never expected that alien life could be found this way at least right now. Maybe when we find some other earth like planets where we think that there might be life we can try again. But even then I don't expect anything with the technology we are using.




As for FTL travel, we know it's a fact that through normal methods of accelerating an object we can never get it to move the speed of light. We have also so far found nothing that can move information FTL. Even with quantum entanglement you can not send information FTL. What we would need is some way to warp space to make the distance smaller, worm home, or some other exotic way to move through space.

Now if we were to meet an alien race that was far more advanced than us that could communicate with us. If they were to show us from the begining to the end on how something works we would be able to understand it. We might not understand ALL the "why's" but that doesn't matter if we can explain how something works. We would just be continuing to do experiments like we are doing today. There are plenty of things that we don't understand why certain things are. But the experiments show that's how things in the universe work, and we can use that to create things that do work.

The chances are if a race is able to accomplish insterstellar communication, they're going to be far more advanced than us. We've only had radio for a bit over 100 years. Imagine a race only 300 years more advanced than us. Now 1000 years. Now 10000 years. We're at the staring line and most of the people in the race are likely half away across the track.

I personally believe that we'll never make contact with another civilization with conventional means. Radio and light are too slow. I'm thinking they're probably going to be using some exotic technology involving extra dimensional communication, entanglement, or maybe something we haven't even discovered yet. We're using Victrolas and they're using MP3s.

 

[techs]

I think its possible we have already made contact. However, not thru "conventional" means. And the government is covering it up.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

You are still making the 'one man must be able to understand it all' fallacy. I may not be able to comprehend the entire universe, but I don't have to. There are tens of thousands of people working on those problems, and more join our ranks every day. All I have to do is understand one small part of it, and add that to the collective knowledge of our species.
It has been a long time since any one person could know the sum total of mankind's knowledge, that is why we have invented devices to store that knowledge and ways to retrieve it when needed, from books to the internet. Now we are even working on complex computer systems that will help us to know what knowledge we need.

Working together we can knit together an understand of the whole, and working together we can use that knowledge to do practical things.

You are now entering the realm of faith based science. I know it's difficult to accept but humans in any number still have a limited ability. There is no collective mind. As a society we collect information and we learn things however all an infinite number of humans can understand is what the individual can comprehend. You are looking at quantity and saying that creates quality.

Back to the dog. How many would it take to understand a car? With computers how many PCs would you have to hook together to get Skynet?

Do you know what the Principia Mathematica is? What it was intended to do? Let's go with that as a concrete example. Explain how to complete the Principia Mathematica.

An ant can understand what an ant can understand, a dog can understand what a dog can understand and it's the same for people. There is a distinct difference in each case between adding experience and adding the ability to grasp that which cannot be understood by a more elemental brain.

 

[tcsenter]

SETI makes a lot of assumptions about how a signal would be sent by aliens. More than a few people have suggested that those assumptions are probably wrong.

And would require power/amplitude that is extremely unlikely. Better spent elsewhere, like cancer research or F@H.

 

[tcsenter]

Oh, just stop the b.s. already. George Bush paid off his people, the super rich with trillions.
And under Obama taxes are actually a bit lower. Obama had to pull us out of the disaster he inherited. While the super rich have seen their share of the national wealth skyrocket while the rest of us have far less.

And yet, the bottom 50% of households pay no income tax, while the top 10% pay nearly all of it.

 

[Jeff7]

And yet, the bottom 50&#37; of households pay no income tax, while the top 10% pay nearly all of it.

Well good, since the latter group consists of the ones who have the vast majority of the wealth.

 

[techs]

And yet, the bottom 50% of households pay no income tax, while the top 10% pay nearly all of it.

Yet, the rich have gotten far, far richer while the average American loses ground.

 

[coloumb]

/bummer - I guess SETI needs something as significant as the event in the movie Contact...

I honestly think we [as a human race] should start developing and initiating plans to put a base on the moon and mars instead of listening to the universe.