I'm not saying that SETI@home isn't a valuable use of processor resources,
but even if we DID find a signal that we could confirm was artificial and
extraterrestrial in origin, we wouldn't be able to do much with it right
now. Our spacefaring technology is still in its infancy, and even if we had
a device capable of sending a return signal, it'd take years to get back.
What I'm saying is that I'd rather help find a cure for leukemia, even if
it means giving it to a company that would charge out the nose for it,
because it's generally better to be poorer because of the high cost of
drugs than dead. And, every day the distributed research project brings a
cure closer to being found, a few more lives can be saved.
Now, in the long term, finding extraterrestrial intelligence would clearly
be one of the most monumental discoveries in human history, and I do hope
we find one one of these days. But I'm more concerned about helping some
humans now than maybe finding a signal that we couldn't do much of anything
about for years. Processors will get faster and faster, and once we take
care of all the diseases we can fix by chemical modeling, then SETI will
not only be more of a priority, but we'll be able to search much more
quickly because we'll have substantially faster processors.
Evan
Art F Brooks writes:
> SETI @ home is by far the most important project that one can participate
> in.
>
> Why give your computer time to big greedy business who have no objective
> but filling their pockets. Just look at the cost of drugs in the US. I
> for one believe that when a signal is found, it will change the future
> of mankind.
==
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