Philosophy
Are we alone in the universe? I have no clue. My guess is that we probably aren't, but the odds of ever finding other forms of intelligent life are so small that one may wonder why we have SETI in the first place. This is one of those strange cases in which a complete absence of evidence is no evidence of absence... unless it is, but then how would we know the difference? (As you can tell, I'm somewhat ambivalent on this issue).
SETI has recently had to deal with some major cuts to their funding, and although I don't expect us to find intelligent life outside of our planet any time soon (it's hard enough finding it on this planet), I don't think that the program should be closed, or even reduced. Its importance to me isn't about whether it manages to hear from E.T. It's about a certain conception of human vision and curiosity. To me, keeping SETI alive, or closing it, says more about us than it does about possible aliens, so the question really boils down to what we want to think of ourselves...
But even if we ignore that, Carl Sagan has some words, inspiring as ever, concerning the importance of this kind of research.
And as you can tell, this is not a new issue. Carl Sagan already addressed it in his book Contact:
And seriously, the budget for SETI is really a drop in the bucket. It's not like we're talking crazy amounts of dough here...
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- Ready, Seti, Go
So MT asks how much money ought we be spending on SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This is a very interesting one. On the one hand, should it be successful and finds real evidence of other intelligent beings in the universe it would...
- Frugal Ferengi?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Lieutenant Worf ... "Open all hailing frequencies in all universal languages". Lieutenant Worf... "Aye Captain". The following article has a tenuous underlying notion that aliens are parsimonious. I suppose scifi would allow...
- 50 Years And No Aliens
50 years of searching for the faintest signal from an alien life form and we have ZIP. It is a futile attempt and fortunately the U. S. Government is no longer involved. Suppose the contact were established...then what. Distance would be a real problem...
- Sagan/seti Poll
Did Carl Sagan waste his time by being involved with SETI? No...2 Yes...1 This is kind of an ambiguous question...depending on the "frame of reference". Frankly, I don't place much value in seeking contact with extra terrestrials. But it may be what...
- No Government Funding For Seti!
Arecibo Observatory Puerto Rico Sorry, I have to display a thumbs down on any government financing for the SETI project and the use of the radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico--direct or indirect. NASA slowly pulled out of the project...
Philosophy
We're Not Home, E.T. Please Leave a Message...
Are we alone in the universe? I have no clue. My guess is that we probably aren't, but the odds of ever finding other forms of intelligent life are so small that one may wonder why we have SETI in the first place. This is one of those strange cases in which a complete absence of evidence is no evidence of absence... unless it is, but then how would we know the difference? (As you can tell, I'm somewhat ambivalent on this issue).SETI has recently had to deal with some major cuts to their funding, and although I don't expect us to find intelligent life outside of our planet any time soon (it's hard enough finding it on this planet), I don't think that the program should be closed, or even reduced. Its importance to me isn't about whether it manages to hear from E.T. It's about a certain conception of human vision and curiosity. To me, keeping SETI alive, or closing it, says more about us than it does about possible aliens, so the question really boils down to what we want to think of ourselves...
But even if we ignore that, Carl Sagan has some words, inspiring as ever, concerning the importance of this kind of research.
And as you can tell, this is not a new issue. Carl Sagan already addressed it in his book Contact:
And seriously, the budget for SETI is really a drop in the bucket. It's not like we're talking crazy amounts of dough here...
.
- Ready, Seti, Go
So MT asks how much money ought we be spending on SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This is a very interesting one. On the one hand, should it be successful and finds real evidence of other intelligent beings in the universe it would...
- Frugal Ferengi?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Lieutenant Worf ... "Open all hailing frequencies in all universal languages". Lieutenant Worf... "Aye Captain". The following article has a tenuous underlying notion that aliens are parsimonious. I suppose scifi would allow...
- 50 Years And No Aliens
50 years of searching for the faintest signal from an alien life form and we have ZIP. It is a futile attempt and fortunately the U. S. Government is no longer involved. Suppose the contact were established...then what. Distance would be a real problem...
- Sagan/seti Poll
Did Carl Sagan waste his time by being involved with SETI? No...2 Yes...1 This is kind of an ambiguous question...depending on the "frame of reference". Frankly, I don't place much value in seeking contact with extra terrestrials. But it may be what...
- No Government Funding For Seti!
Arecibo Observatory Puerto Rico Sorry, I have to display a thumbs down on any government financing for the SETI project and the use of the radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico--direct or indirect. NASA slowly pulled out of the project...