Slashdot Mirror

I'm sure you'll get modded up. No surprise that high oil prices in the late 70s early 80s had these same kinds of research projects. They probably floundered in the 90s when prices came down and now someone is blowing the dust off the old plans.

I actually proposed something similar for providing and shipping desalinated water in my blog with Now All I Need Is A Giant Baggie..."just a week ago.

I'm sure you'll get modded up. No surprise that high oil prices in the late 70s early 80s had these same kinds of research projects. They probably floundered in the 90s when prices came down and now someone is blowing the dust off the old plans.

I actually proposed something similar for providing and shipping desalinated water in my blog with Now All I Need Is A Giant Baggie..."just a week ago.

SETI@home essentially invented donated distributed over the internet, over a dozen other projects are benefiting from it in the form of BOINC and the WSJ is upset because people don't donate cycles with presumed morally superior choices the WJS sees. I have noticed an up-tic recently in attempts to kill SETI research of any kind. The reason is always "it's a waste of time." In other words the opponents of SETI always know better that it is a fruitless search than the proponents, but they have no scientific basis for making that assertion other than that's the way it feels to them. Granted pro-SETI people similarly have little evidence that ET will be found soon -- but there are no wasted inquiries in science. If you search and fail to find something, you have still learned something, you now have a number and you can put some bound on a phenomenon. No one tells physicists to give up searching because they haven't found the Higgs Boson yet, or at the lower energies they initially predicted.

Most likely a signal won't be found in the next decade or two, but I still donate my free cycles to SETI@home. I believe that while in the short run the odds are not high, there are few other discoveries that could be so transformative as this -- and although they won't say it, this is why the opponents of SETI are so rabid to shut it down. SETI is the ugly step child of science, it will never get the support other branches will. This is why a volunteer effort is so important. Of course if a signal is ever found, well then step back and watch all the money and resources that will get thrown at it, then your cycles won't be needed. Also be prepared to hear all about how many politicians where a friend of SET way back when.

WSJ suggests inertia to explain why we give cycles to search for SETI, that and the pride of placing high in the SETI work units competition. WSJ suggests that competition is the main reason for SETI@home's success, and had another project come along first to set up as competition for bragging rights about how many work units accomplished all the cycles would be goin to that project instead. Rubbish. The same people that download OSS apps and care about matters scientific are the very people that care about SETI. I donate my cycles because I care about SETI, which has I have already mentioned is an unpopular science with the general public. It is seen as an underdog by the hacker community, it appeals to their sense of adventure and wonder.

Ironically I had just posted on this subject in a new blog project Brink with the entry SETI: First Detection

SETI@home essentially invented donated distributed over the internet, over a dozen other projects are benefiting from it in the form of BOINC and the WSJ is upset because people don't donate cycles with presumed morally superior choices the WJS sees. I have noticed an up-tic recently in attempts to kill SETI research of any kind. The reason is always "it's a waste of time." In other words the opponents of SETI always know better that it is a fruitless search than the proponents, but they have no scientific basis for making that assertion other than that's the way it feels to them. Granted pro-SETI people similarly have little evidence that ET will be found soon -- but there are no wasted inquiries in science. If you search and fail to find something, you have still learned something, you now have a number and you can put some bound on a phenomenon. No one tells physicists to give up searching because they haven't found the Higgs Boson yet, or at the lower energies they initially predicted.

Most likely a signal won't be found in the next decade or two, but I still donate my free cycles to SETI@home. I believe that while in the short run the odds are not high, there are few other discoveries that could be so transformative as this -- and although they won't say it, this is why the opponents of SETI are so rabid to shut it down. SETI is the ugly step child of science, it will never get the support other branches will. This is why a volunteer effort is so important. Of course if a signal is ever found, well then step back and watch all the money and resources that will get thrown at it, then your cycles won't be needed. Also be prepared to hear all about how many politicians where a friend of SET way back when.

WSJ suggests inertia to explain why we give cycles to search for SETI, that and the pride of placing high in the SETI work units competition. WSJ suggests that competition is the main reason for SETI@home's success, and had another project come along first to set up as competition for bragging rights about how many work units accomplished all the cycles would be goin to that project instead. Rubbish. The same people that download OSS apps and care about matters scientific are the very people that care about SETI. I donate my cycles because I care about SETI, which has I have already mentioned is an unpopular science with the general public. It is seen as an underdog by the hacker community, it appeals to their sense of adventure and wonder.

Ironically I had just posted on this subject in a new blog project Brink with the entry SETI: First Detection

Wow, the hypocrisy of it all. SETI@home essentially invented donated distributed over the internet, over a dozen other projects are benefiting from it in the form of Bionic and the WSJ is upset because people don't donate cycles with presumed morally superior choices the WJS sees. I have noticed an up-tic recently in attempts to kill SETI research of any kind. The reason is always "it's a waste of time." In other words the opponents of SETI always know better that it is a fruitless search, but they have no scientific basis for making that assertion other than that's the way it feels to them. Granted pro-SETI people similarly have little evidence that ET will be found soon -- but there are no wasted inquiries in science. If you search and fail to find something, you have still learned something, you now have a number and you can put some bound on a phenomenon. No one tells physicists to give up searching because they haven't found the Higgs Boson yet, or at the lower energies they initially predicted.

Most likely a signal won't be found in the next decade or two, but I still donate my free cycles to SETI@home. I believe that while in the short run the odds are not high, there are few other discoveries that could be so transformative as this -- and although they won't say it, this is why the opponents of SETI are so rabid to shut it down. SETI is the ugly step child of science, it will never get the support other branches will. This is why a volunteer effort is so important. Of course if a signal is ever found, well then step back and watch all the money and resources that will get thrown at it, then your cycles won't be needed. Also be prepared to hear all about how many politicians where a friend of SET way back when.

And now for a shameless plug of my new blog project Brink
An on going series of essays about possible world changing advances in our future, SETI among them.

Wow, the hypocrisy of it all. SETI@home essentially invented donated distributed over the internet, over a dozen other projects are benefiting from it in the form of Bionic and the WSJ is upset because people don't donate cycles with presumed morally superior choices the WJS sees. I have noticed an up-tic recently in attempts to kill SETI research of any kind. The reason is always "it's a waste of time." In other words the opponents of SETI always know better that it is a fruitless search, but they have no scientific basis for making that assertion other than that's the way it feels to them. Granted pro-SETI people similarly have little evidence that ET will be found soon -- but there are no wasted inquiries in science. If you search and fail to find something, you have still learned something, you now have a number and you can put some bound on a phenomenon. No one tells physicists to give up searching because they haven't found the Higgs Boson yet, or at the lower energies they initially predicted.

Most likely a signal won't be found in the next decade or two, but I still donate my free cycles to SETI@home. I believe that while in the short run the odds are not high, there are few other discoveries that could be so transformative as this -- and although they won't say it, this is why the opponents of SETI are so rabid to shut it down. SETI is the ugly step child of science, it will never get the support other branches will. This is why a volunteer effort is so important. Of course if a signal is ever found, well then step back and watch all the money and resources that will get thrown at it, then your cycles won't be needed. Also be prepared to hear all about how many politicians where a friend of SET way back when.

And now for a shameless plug of my new blog project Brink
An on going series of essays about possible world changing advances in our future, SETI among them.

Obviously the locator service is even more to blame in endangering ACLU lawyers. Its purpose is not to find an ACLU representative (which is better done through the ACLU directly) but to make them feel unsafe in their homes.

My criticism of Info4Beer was disagreed with 2 to 1 by people of like mind to his.
Here is a link to a copy of our flame war (scroll down to the redneck picture)

My point is it isn't only overt calls to violence that must be dealt with, but oblique ones as well. I'm all for free speech, but posting people's addresses and labeling them as targets also steps way over the line in my opinion. I'm am not well qualified to make a judgment on what is going on in France, but we have sites in America also calling for violence in various ways and they too should be shut down. The last time I looked the definition of Assault (which many confuse with Battery) is a threat to do violence. Assault is most definitely against the law. Shutting down blogs advocating violence is not censorship, it is persecution of assault.

Obviously the locator service is even more to blame in endangering ACLU lawyers. Its purpose is not to find an ACLU representative (which is better done through the ACLU directly) but to make them feel unsafe in their homes.

My criticism of Info4Beer was disagreed with 2 to 1 by people of like mind to his.
Here is a link to a copy of our flame war (scroll down to the redneck picture)

My point is it isn't only overt calls to violence that must be dealt with, but oblique ones as well. I'm all for free speech, but posting people's address and labeling them as targets also steps way over the line in my opinion. I'm am not well qualified to make a judgment on what is going on in France, but we have sites in America also calling for violence in various ways and they too should be shut down. The last time I looked the definition of Assault (which many confuse with Battery) is a threat to do violence. Assault is most definitely against the law. Shutting down blogs advocating violence is not censorship, it is persecution of assault.

Should anyone care to read this (possibly amateurish) story, please leave a comment on the comment page (currently empty) if you give it a try.

There are adult themes in this story, so I don't know whether to state that as a disclaimer or inducement (probably both).

Should anyone care to read this (possibly amateurish) story, please leave a comment on the comment page (currently empty) if you give it a try.

There are adult themes in this story, so I don't know whether to state that as a disclaimer or inducement (probably both).