Is SETI Worth It?

njdube sent in this Space.com story about the money behind SETI that opens, "It's a risky long shot that burns up money and might never, ever pay off. So is searching for intelligent creatures on unseen worlds worth the candle? After all, aren't there better ways to use our monies and technical talents than trying to find something that's only posited to exist: sentient beings in the dark depths of space?"

Comments

WTF? srsly

[Anonymous Coward]

Is finding an extra-terrestrial intelligence worth it? That would only be the most significant event in the history of humanity. No SHIT it's worth it.

It's like those oil-funded economists who kvetch (pun intended!) about whether it's "economically worth it" to stop humanity's extinction from global warming.

Can I get a job asking dumb ass questions for $$$?

SETI is cheap

[dlleigh]

The press spends more money covering SETI than the scientists spend actually doing it.
Just because something involves "space" doesn't mean that it has a NASA-like budget.

The first trolls failed to RTFA

[ducomputergeek]

It's written by Seth Shostak, who has been one of the people involved with SETI for a number of years and is in favor of continuing the research. Last time I checked SETI is now a non-profit that uses donations to fund their research. If that's what people want to donate their money to and think it is worth while, then let it continue.

Compare the costs.

[Dukaso]

Let me put it like this: SETI costs us, at most, $5,000,000 a year to fund. The war against Boogiemen, in Iraq alone, is costing us ~$116,750,000,000 a year to fund. SETI's lifetime cost thus far has been 115,000,000 (assuming 5million/year. 5mil is the most it costs per year, 4 million the least) Mathtime! 115,000,000 / 116,750,000,000 = 0.000985010707 Yes, the lifetime cost of SETI has been but 0.000985010707% of the cost of ONE YEAR in Iraq. .001% of the cost of one year of a bullshit war to fund a search for proof that we're not alone in the universe? Hell yes. Hell Yes Hell Fucking Yes Sources: http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_faq.html http://www.nationalpriorities.org/Cost-of-War/Cost-of-War-3.html

Re:Meta to discussion: who is this "we" you speak

[donaldm]

If you RTFA the Government donation "was" prior to 1993 was approx 3 cents for every person in the US. After 1993 Government spending on SETI is "zero", so all monies donated to SETI is by private individuals. There are many ways of contributing, one would be to donate money, the other donate a portion of your PC clock cycles and therefore electricity which someone will have to pay for eventually. In some way this is like "Folding at Home" except there are more perceived tangible results to be had but you still have to make a decision to provide the service, however like SETI no one forces you. Basically it is your choice your money and the Government is not involved.

Not exactly accurate...

[mbessey]

SETI is looking for a signal from an advanced civilization that is deliberately using archaic methods to transmit. What I mean is that they're looking for a beacon signal that's designed to be easy to interpret, and that's transmitted at an extremely high power level.

On a practical level, that's the best they can do. Using the best receivers that we currently have, it'd just barely be possible to detect a megawatt-level signal from a few light years away, if it was aimed right at us. Detecting the equivalent of leakage from a TV transmission is a complete fantasy. Unless there's someone out there that's really desperate to be heard, we'll never find them.

And of course, we're not about to start a program of sending similar signals to all the nearest stars - that'd take real money. If we detect a signal, then we might respond back.

Unfortunately, the same argument holds in the other direction, too. Any alien civilizations out there would be foolish to waste the resources to send a signal we could detect, before they were sure we were there to hear it. When I think about SETI, I sometimes imagine thousands of intelligent species out there, all monitoring their antenna arrays, waiting for a signal that none of them have the funding to send...

Re:Compare the costs (and formatting!)

[noidentity]

Mathtime! 115,000,000 / 116,750,000,000 = 0.000985010707

Yes, the lifetime cost of SETI has been but 0.000985010707% of the cost of ONE YEAR in Iraq.

One percent equals one hundredth, so the real answer is closer to one tenth of one percent: 0.0985% (hate to correct you, since your overall point I very much agree with)

Re:S.E.T.I

[fyngyrz]

Not only are the things you listed more scientifically understood than alien lifeforms (We don't know if they exist at all. Period)

We don't know if workable fusion reactors can exist, either. Nor cures for cancer. Nor AI's. That was the point. Maybe you need another cup of coffee.

I would much prefer to see money poured into the subject matters you listed, than in finding that cute little ET. At least I know what I am paying for.

Yes, so? What's your problem? SETI is funded by donations. Just don't donate to them, donate to someone else, and you can see your money go anywhere you like. In the meantime, what business is it of yours where I put my money? I don't recall delegating any authority to you.

Re:S.E.T.I

[s4m7]

I wish I could mod you up.

SETI is funded by donations.

This seems to be the most important aspect of this discussion. The total of SETI's 'wasteful' expenses is like 14 million a year. 3/4 of that is privately donated, with 1/4 coming from competitively-awarded NASA Astrobiology research grants.

What are these supoosed "better ways" to look for alien life?

Re:S.E.T.I

[david.given]

The total of SETI's 'wasteful' expenses is like 14 million a year.

$14 million dollars would fund the Iraq war for 88 minutes (based on the official Pentagon 'burn rate' estimate of $6.8 billion a month).