Do you think S.E.T.I. is wasting there time?

Question

I think it's like someone in Africa try to shout to someone in New York.

The distance is too great and the means of communication is to slow.

Answer 1

  It may never get proof that aliens exist but it is really worth the effort and cost.

Answer 2

No, I don't.

"Our mission is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe."

Does that sound like a waste of time to you?

Answer 3

It is a waste of time.

Nothing has come out of it. I used to have the SETI screen saver. I was one of the top 'number crunchers' for datapacks.

I think ET is communicating on a totally different level of communication than we are. More sophisticated. And there are other 'moral' factors as to why it is so quiet out there in the stars. Maybe they can't be bothered to talk to us, since we haven't gotten over nuclear arms/wars/pathetic human nature in general.

I mean if we were sufficiently evolved technologically and spiritually, then perhaps we would be ready to hear things.

PHD or not...that has nothing to do with morals and state of human consciousness. In fact, PHDs just don't get it.

Answer 4

The word you seem to be desperately searching for is "their."

Answer 5

It is the most profound things humanity is doing right now.  Maybe soap operas, and game shows and football games are more important?

Yes the chances of success are low, but if they are there and we don't look, what a shame that would be.

Answer 6

This is a privately funded research project--- so if they are wasting money-- it is their own money.

Answer 7

I think that they are still trying to get contact. It may seem a little unorthodox I'll admit, but I think they would make contact...sooner or later!

Answer 8

Whether SETI exists or not doesn't make a difference because any discovery of alien signals will be kept secret anyway in order to prevent people in the world from losing their minds and going crazy, the powers that be in the world want to keep their power, and want everything to run nice and smoothly, they don't like chaos when they're not in control of it.

Answer 9

It's obvious you don't have a clue about SETI. Firstly, it's privately funded, so it's not costing you a dime.

Second, the goal of SETI is not to try to make contact with extraterrestrials. While a few signals have been deliberately sent, this is more P.R. work for the public. SETI is trying to listen in on any possible signals being sent, either to us, or out to the Universe at large (or even two or more civilizations already in contact).

Third, the most likely wavelength used and listened to is around the 21cm wavelength of hydrogen. It's a natural frequency since hydrogen is the most abundant element, and any civilization interested in radio transmission would be naturally drawn to use this as a 'beacon'. Plus, the wavelengths around this 'beacon' are near a minimum for background noise in the galaxy. And these frequencies travel right through dust clouds in space, making it a nearly ideal method of exchanging information.

The point is not to get a signal, then try to strike up a dialogue; obviously the distances involved would take many years. But just knowing there was someone out there would have a profound effect upon the world.

So, no, it's not a waste of time. A lot of people with more PhDs than you think it's a good idea. I'll put my faith in them, thank you very much.

Answer 10

I don't think they're going to find anything, but I don't think they're wasting their time.  Sometimes, having nothing happen can teach you just as much as, if not more than, if what you expected happened.

A lot of people in here (including you) don't seem to understand what SETI does.  They're not trying to communicate with aliens, they're not trying to send signals out (they do occasionally, but it's more of a novelty than anything serious), and what they do doesn't depend of 'deciphering' a signal if we receive one, or the aliens deciphering a signal from us.  SETI has nothing to do with trying to talk to aliens or even understand anything aliens are saying.  They are simply looking for a signal that could not have come from a natural source.  

As an analogy, imagine something happens and you seem to be the only person left alive on earth.  For days you walk around with your radio scanning, and nothing.  One day, all of a sudden, you hear people talking in french, for just a split second.  You don't know what they said, and you have no hope of communicating with them at all, you've already lost the signal.  BUT you do know that there are other people out there, somewhere, and that's an important and meaningful discovery, regardless of if you can talk to them or not.

Plus, things like the 'wow signal' show there is promise in what they're doing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow_signal

Answer 11

yes actually... for a number of reason... i believe in aliens, i believe in intelligent aliens as well... i don't even doubt they have visited earth for whatever reason....

but the whole project is a waste of time.... when you actually consider the chances anyone other then us will EVER hear the message.... much less decipher it. the chances of another species creating something similar and then sending out radio waves that we're looking for AND us actually finding them are, yet, even less.

i remember one guy talking about it and explaining why they're doing it... he said something to the effect of "well if we've figured our radio wave devices, then surely someone else out there has too"

the only problem is, atleast judging by our own experiences, there is a very small window when radio transmissions/recievers AREN'T obsolete. if some other species has made those devices, the chances are actually that they've stopped using them long ago when they found better means of studying the universe and communicating over vast distances.

Answer 12

Since its the only possible form of contact with alien civilizations, its worth a try.  It doesn't cost all that much and its privately funded. But you are correct.  Even if a signal were verified the time between transmissions in years would be the number of light years times two.  Plus some time to formulate questions or answers.  But the problem is  worse than that.  Translation of an alien language may very well be impossible.  Mathematics, being universal, could be exchanged, but beyond that the conceptual differences between totally different clades are likely insurmountable. SETI is simply asking for frustration.  

Answer 13

Hey Hellbent -

I don't think it's a waste of time. It's like politics; a total no-win scenario. If you do it and get no positive results, everyone complains and says it's a waste of time. If you don't do it, everyone complains and says "why doesn't someone (always someone else) go listen for signals?" In that kind of finger-pointing reality, I would rather have negative data than no data.  

Answer 14

It will take 4.2 years for their "hello is anyone there?" to reach the closest star that doesn't even have a confirmed solar system! "We are trying to find life in the universe by radio transmission." is a fancy way of saying "we want to talk to space aliens through the radio." This is what I picture in the control system:

President of S.E.T.I.

"Okay everyone, we have launched the first radio transmission."

<silence>

Some guy:

"Well now what?"

"I'm bored."

"How much longer?!"

President:

"Well its just about get passed the sun."

Some guy:

"Won't that steer it in the wrong direction?"

President:

"Oh c**p."

I think it is a complete waste of time. It would be easier for someone in Africa to shout to someone to New York than finding intelligent life forms on planets light years away.