Posted on 12/01/2005 7:34:54 PM PST by KevinDavis
Dr. Backus, what is SETI exactly, and who or what funds it?
The Institute is a non-profit research organization founded in 1984 "to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe."
The word "SETI" is an acronym for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. SETI is a field of research that seeks evidence of life on planets orbiting other stars by searching for electromagnetic signals (radio, optical, or infrared) that may be produced by advanced, technological civilizations.
Although SETI is in our name, the institute currently conducts more than forty other research projects in the field of Astrobiology, the study of life in the universe.
The Center for SETI Research has two current projects: developing the "next generation" observatory and the search system to process the data. The observatory, the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), is being built in collaboration with the University of California Berkeley. The new software-based search system is called SonATA (SETI on ATA). Both projects are almost entirely privately funded. Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, funded the R&D and initial phase of the telescope.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.ohmynews.com ...
I dutiflly have been running Seti@home since the beginning.
Call me nuts, but I think we will find the proof in our lifetimes. And I aint no teenager!
Who knows, maybe they communicate on the quantum level somehow. Maybe we are looking for "smoke signals" while they have long since moved on to radio.
I think you are right.. We will find proof in our lifetime.. The universe is big and who knows what we will find..
The proof may already have been found - numerous anomalous structures on the moon and Mars, including but not limited to, the Cydonia region.
Richard Hoagland may be a crackpot but I think there's still some fire to go with all the smoke.
This is the whole point of space exploration IMO. SETI can be done for a minute fraction of the cost of sending an astronaut to the moon and back.
What would lead you to that conclusion?
Gut feeling...
Wrong.. The whole point of space travel is to send humans to the moon, Mars and beyong..
The point is knowledge. Finding ET would represent a quantum leap in that pursuit.
Agreed. People must explore. It is our nature. Its why we are all here now. And is is inevitable. We have to go, we have to touch and feel for ourselves. Parades are not given to robots. They are part of the equation. But the whole point is to go. The horizon will always call us.
The other point is also exploration...
We will explore - and I have nothing against humans going to the planets and beyond - but we must do it in a logical, cost effective fashion.
Plus the fact is that Earth will die out. When I don't know. I hate to see the Human race to die cause the fear of the unknown...
> The point is knowledge.
No. Knowledge is a bonus, and an aide. The point is long-term survival for our culture, our species and the lifeforms we evolved with. We'll green-up any place we go.
Knowledge will help us do this. But it is not an end unto itself.
check your next update... it says they are shutting it down as of 12/15/05 and starting a new project you will have to load.
The Human Race is the only species on Earth that has evolved to the point where they may save their kind from extinction from a global catastrophe...
Note that I said, "may." The jury is still out...
That may be the case. But if we can't bring dogs with us wherever we go, then I'd just as soon go extinct!
Read the book rare earth - I bet you change your mind
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