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SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

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Re: SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

#21

Post by blhack »

farnsworth wrote: post #9
blhack wrote: post #3

If you haven't yet seen the wonderful "Sagan Series" on youtube, start with this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHuve33yOVY or this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxsJeND_D-k&feature=relat... Honestly, watching this chokes me up a little bit. Watching the last shuttle flight, then seeing SETI have to realistically think about parking all of their listening equipment is just...sad. Too many people get caught…

Weren't the Pyramids an expression of ego, and the Colosseum a sports arena? That said, I love the Sagan Series and agree with the spirit of your post.

Wasn't the Apollo program just a show of force against the Russians? Wasn't the shuttle the same thing?

Wasn't SETI just a pointless project by a bunch of those pesky nerds?

Do you think that the Pyramids or the Colosseum were a waste of money?

Re: SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

#22

Post by jasonlotito »

jackpirate wrote: post #13

Has SETI actually found anything scientifically useful? (This is an honest question.)

Looked it up on the SETI website. First thing I found that has a real, direct impact:

> The signal processing techniques used for Project Phoenix have already been applied to the detection of breast cancer.

Check it out (http://www.seti.org/) there are lots of thing SETI does, and not just searching for little green men.

Re: SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

#23

Post by dave_sullivan »

blhack wrote: post #3

If you haven't yet seen the wonderful "Sagan Series" on youtube, start with this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHuve33yOVY or this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxsJeND_D-k&feature=relat... Honestly, watching this chokes me up a little bit. Watching the last shuttle flight, then seeing SETI have to realistically think about parking all of their listening equipment is just...sad. Too many people get caught…

I think we've built/done plenty of cool things as a society and I don't think ending the space program negates that (or what was achieved with the space program in the first place).

I would really be more comfortable with a space program being funded directly by people like yourself in the form of donations to a gov-independent organization, because I for one don't really care all that much about continued space exploration and don't think the government should pay for it. Not that they don't spend tons of money on other stupid stuff, but hey, one step at a time...

Re: SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

#24

Post by pizza_ »

dave_sullivan wrote: post #23
blhack wrote: post #3

If you haven't yet seen the wonderful "Sagan Series" on youtube, start with this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHuve33yOVY or this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxsJeND_D-k&feature=relat... Honestly, watching this chokes me up a little bit. Watching the last shuttle flight, then seeing SETI have to realistically think about parking all of their listening equipment is just...sad. Too many people get caught…

I think we've built/done plenty of cool things as a society and I don't think ending the space program negates that (or what was achieved with the space program in the first place). I would really be more comfortable with a space program being funded directly by people like yourself in the form of donations to a gov-independent organization, because I for one don't really care all that much about continued space expl…

NASA has many space programs: http://www.nasa.gov/missions/current/index.html

The shuttle has been canceled.

Re: SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

#25

Post by dorkitude »

blhack wrote: post #21
farnsworth wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weren't the Pyramids an expression of ego, and the Colosseum a sports arena? That said, I love the Sagan Series and agree with the spirit of your post.

Wasn't the Apollo program just a show of force against the Russians? Wasn't the shuttle the same thing? Wasn't SETI just a pointless project by a bunch of those pesky nerds? Do you think that the Pyramids or the Colosseum were a waste of money?

HN is probably not the best arena in which to antagonize nerds.

Re: SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

#27

Post by ceejayoz »

jackpirate wrote: post #13

Has SETI actually found anything scientifically useful? (This is an honest question.)

> Has SETI actually found anything scientifically useful?

Would you also reject a research grant for a potential cancer cure based on the fact that the researcher hasn't cured cancer?

Re: SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

#28

Post by hugh3 »

jackpirate wrote: post #13

Has SETI actually found anything scientifically useful? (This is an honest question.)

Yes, it's found a wealth of evidence that there aren't currently alien radio signals being beamed at us. At least, in the directions we've looked, at the frequencies we've checked, within our feeble human understanding of what a signal should look like, we haven't seen any signals.

That's useful information. But the returns rapidly diminish. The first thirty seconds you use checking to see if your car keys are under the couch is time well spent. But if you're still looking under your couch two hours later... well, it's possible your car keys ain't there.

Re: SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

#29

Post by hugh3 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #27
jackpirate wrote: post #13

Has SETI actually found anything scientifically useful? (This is an honest question.)

> Has SETI actually found anything scientifically useful? Would you also reject a research grant for a potential cancer cure based on the fact that the researcher hasn't cured cancer?

No, but if the hypothesis were "lemons cured cancer", and decades of evidence had failed to show any evidence of lemons curing cancer, and the researchers are still saying "Hmmm, maybe we need to cut the lemons up in a different way" then I'd be disinclined to continue funding it.

Re: SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestrial Life

#30

Post by hugh3 »

saturn7 wrote: post #17
pavel_lishin wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you buy anything with bitcoins other than drugs right now? edit: I know someone will roll their eyes at this comment and proceed to defend bitcoin, but seriously - what can SETI buy with bitcoins that's useful to them? And "anything people are willing to sell, man, it's just a currency!" is a trivial answer.

Yes you can buy really bad porn

Shit, man, I'll give you that for free.
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