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Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

#31

Post by happyscrappy »

SCHiM wrote: post #27
codeshaman wrote: post #17

A very noble endeavour indeed, but I still don't get it. So let's say that by examining the petabytes of data that's received from the telescopes, at some point a signal is detected. Let's say that somehow all the competing scientests and skeptics, religious and opinion leaders magically and peacefully agree: the signal is from an inteligent life form. Somewhere close, just a couple of hundred light years away ... Th…

Do you not think that actually knowing, really knowing, is a worthy cause in and of itself? To have proof that we are not alone? Even if we can't get there I think that certainty would be a very nice thing to have.

I agree that knowing is a worthy cause, but never mind getting there we will not even be able to have anything even resembling a conversation if you have to wait hundreds of years for a response.

Edit: Does anyone know the current thinking of the odds that information could be able to travel faster than light, ie a wormhole? As far as I know they are very slim.

Re: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

#32

Post by ohitsdom »

Seems like a huge waste of money to me. If you're interested in ET, why not invest in the space industry to advance our capabilities? It'll be hard to interact with ET when as a society we are essentially[0] earth bound.

[0] http://howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com/

Re: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

#33

Post by netcan »

ohitsdom wrote: post #32

Seems like a huge waste of money to me. If you're interested in ET, why not invest in the space industry to advance our capabilities? It'll be hard to interact with ET when as a society we are essentially[0] earth bound. [0] http://howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com/

I guess that's a matter of defining "earth bound." If we don't have people in space but we have probes on all the nearby planets, moons, comets and anything with enough gravity to hold one down, does that count as earth bound?

ATM, a manned mars mission is in the "very hard and expensive" file. Unmanned missions to anywhere in our solar system are doable on smaller budgets. We can use telescopes to look much further. In all cases information is being moved back and forward between earth and space.

Re: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

#34

Post by CyberpunkDad »

happyscrappy wrote: post #28
melling wrote: post #14

I wish someone would instead come up with a project to really capture the public's attention about space exploration. More interest means more funding. The U.S. Budget is measured in billions. The New Horizons project, for example, only cost $700 million. The Lunar X Prize might have been that project but it doesn't seem to be making progress: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Lunar_X_Prize http://lunar.xprize.o…

I know America is supposed to lead the way but Europe is larger and richer and has a space budget one third of NASA.

-Greece

Re: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

#36

Post by juandopazo »

jshelly wrote: post #15
melling wrote: post #14

I wish someone would instead come up with a project to really capture the public's attention about space exploration. More interest means more funding. The U.S. Budget is measured in billions. The New Horizons project, for example, only cost $700 million. The Lunar X Prize might have been that project but it doesn't seem to be making progress: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Lunar_X_Prize http://lunar.xprize.o…

I'd like to think the podcast Radiolab has done more for generating interest in science then any other project I can think of.

Maybe you can change that for the remake of Cosmos.

Re: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

#37

Post by fridek »

webwielder2 wrote: post #35

Wow, a colossal waste of money. Space is far, far too vast and the time scale of human civilization far, far too small. To think of what other good uses that time and money could be spent on (that goes for SETI too)

You speak as if the money was yours to spend and it was misused somehow. As far as billionaires eccentricity goes, this is a great use of money.

Re: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

#38

Post by onion2k »

webwielder2 wrote: post #35

Wow, a colossal waste of money. Space is far, far too vast and the time scale of human civilization far, far too small. To think of what other good uses that time and money could be spent on (that goes for SETI too)

Firstly, it's not a waste of money because it'll be spent on employing people, building things, developing technology, etc. They're not just pouring money down a hole.

Secondly, although it's hugely unlikely they'll find anything, in the event that they do it'll fundamentally change our perspective of who we are and where our place is in the universe. The outcome, while improbable, is so huge it's still worthwhile trying.

Re: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

#39

Post by onion2k »

codeshaman wrote: post #17

A very noble endeavour indeed, but I still don't get it. So let's say that by examining the petabytes of data that's received from the telescopes, at some point a signal is detected. Let's say that somehow all the competing scientests and skeptics, religious and opinion leaders magically and peacefully agree: the signal is from an inteligent life form. Somewhere close, just a couple of hundred light years away ... Th…

Let's say that somehow all the competing scientests and skeptics, religious and opinion leaders magically and peacefully agree..

That's sounds like exactly the sort of outcome we want, regardless of what else happens.

Re: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET

#40

Post by sktrdie »

webwielder2 wrote: post #35

Wow, a colossal waste of money. Space is far, far too vast and the time scale of human civilization far, far too small. To think of what other good uses that time and money could be spent on (that goes for SETI too)

Could you name another good use of money that is better than SETI?
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