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SETI@Home to Crunch More Data

Posted by michael on from the little-furry-animals-with-big-sharp-teeth dept.

BigDave writes: "In this article on Wired, it describes how SETI is gradually running out of data, as the current data acquisition system cannot keep up with the rate of processing (since they now have 3 million users processing data). They have acquired a new high-speed digital data recorder which is Linux-powered, and was donated by Hewlett-Packard."

1 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Other data by rde · · Score: 2, Flamebait

    SETI@HOME is silly i think, when there are more important things to do
    Fucksake...
    Take any (any) endeavour, and you can come up with something more important if you put your mind to it. Protein folding? Why waste your time on such a trivial task when you can sell your computer and donate the money to helping children?

    Inoculating third world children? What a fucking waste of time. Most of them won't accomplish anything. You're better off donating money to schools for gifted children.

    Schools for gifted children? If they're that smart, they don't need help.

    The reason humanity is as wide, diverse and advanced as it is is that every one of us, in more ways than we can count, is standing on the shoulders of not just giants, but minnows (if you'll pardon the mixed metaphor). For every Newton, there are thousands of people whose names aren't recorded, but whose work has been passed down orally for generations, and is now taken as part of common sense instead of ground-breaking research.

    Who gives a shit about how dinosaurs walked? Who cares about whether phlogiston is fixed air or carbon dioxide? Throughout history, people have spent time, money and effort on what those around them considered to be a criminal waste of talent. If they hadn't, we'd still be in the dark ages.

    Will seti@home find anything? Maybe. Is my contribution likely to further mankind? Probably not. Is it more important than folding proteins? Depends on whether we find aliens or a cure for pancreatic cancer.

    Remember: there are no stupid questions. And 'does the noise from Epislon Eridani contain an artifical signal' is as valid a question as any you can think of.