> And when you're not, you're contributing to one of the most > significant discoveries since fire.
All romance aside...purely from the distances involved (assuming a radio signal indicating 'intelligent life'), it would certainly be a very exciting discovery (for a while), but not necessarily 'most significant'. Until we get there (or they here)...even just by radio contact, nevermind physical, we got nothing out of it other than knowing, we're not the only guys around. And that's already a given anyway
Until we get there (or they here)...even just by radio contact, nevermind physical, we got nothing out of it other than knowing
Hence, why I called it a discovery. One could have said the same thing about fire. It, after all, has been around every since there was a high concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere and woody plants on the land. That's several hundred million years at least. The human innovation was learning how to use it.
Similarly, SETI isn't just about discovering that we're not alone, but also how to use that. If you can detect an alien civilization, then the possibility exists of not only being able to communicate
> If you can detect an alien civilization, then the possibility exists of > not only being able to communicate with them, but also trade > knowledge.
I'm completely with you on that. But it's simply gonna take a while. It's simply unlikely, that the first contact will be "Contact"-style ("Jackpot!"), where we get all kinds of wonderful things sent to us right away. Chances are, we detect something at some point, and then it will take a few decades of back and forth communication, if we even have a lan
If all the world's economists were laid end to end, we wouldn't reach a
conclusion.
-- William Baumol
This is different from SETI@Home...how? (Score:-1)
Re: (Score:0)
This is better as you have a really good chance of your computer will contribute a tiny amount to the project and to astronomy in general.
As opposed to SETI where you are most likely processing meaningless noise or using incorrect metrics.
Re:This is different from SETI@Home...how? (Score:1)
As opposed to SETI where you are most likely processing meaningless noise or using incorrect metrics.
And when you're not, you're contributing to one of the most significant discoveries since fire.
Re: (Score:2)
> And when you're not, you're contributing to one of the most
> significant discoveries since fire.
All romance aside...purely from the distances involved (assuming a radio signal indicating 'intelligent life'), it would certainly be a very exciting discovery (for a while), but not necessarily 'most significant'.
Until we get there (or they here)...even just by radio contact, nevermind physical, we got nothing out of it other than knowing, we're not the only guys around. And that's already a given anyway
Re: (Score:2)
Until we get there (or they here)...even just by radio contact, nevermind physical, we got nothing out of it other than knowing
Hence, why I called it a discovery. One could have said the same thing about fire. It, after all, has been around every since there was a high concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere and woody plants on the land. That's several hundred million years at least. The human innovation was learning how to use it.
Similarly, SETI isn't just about discovering that we're not alone, but also how to use that. If you can detect an alien civilization, then the possibility exists of not only being able to communicate
Re: (Score:2)
> If you can detect an alien civilization, then the possibility exists of
> not only being able to communicate with them, but also trade
> knowledge.
I'm completely with you on that. But it's simply gonna take a while. It's simply unlikely, that the first contact will be "Contact"-style ("Jackpot!"), where we get all kinds of wonderful things sent to us right away. Chances are, we detect something at some point, and then it will take a few decades of back and forth communication, if we even have a lan