Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Is SETI Worth It?

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the lights-are-on-but-no-one's-home dept.

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?"

4 of 806 comments (clear)

  1. It is human curiosity at work by gweihir · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Couriosity is a good thing. Most investigations never lead to anytging, but those that do often pay off incredibly well. So this SETI stuff may or may not have results, but as long as it is basically free (or very low cost), it is certainly worth doing.

    On the economic side, an answer is impossible. It is completely unclear what actually finding alien Signals could be worth. If it is just generic greetings, probably not much. But if it is, sort of, Open Source knowledge of things we do not know yet, it could be incredibly valuable.

    I am for continuing it.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  2. Re:Madlibs! by StingRay02 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Yes.

  3. Yes by adatepej · · Score: 0, Redundant

    It's worth it. That's all there is to it -- it's just one of those basic value: love is good, hate is bad, finding aliens is good, not looking is bad. End of story.

    Aliens rule!!

  4. Is SETI worth it? by Rysc · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Yes.

    Next question?

    --
    I want my Cowboyneal