Tim Killian wrote:
Llanzlan Klazmon wrote:

Faith in the religious sense means accepting a proposition as true without
supporting evidence. Looking for evidence supporting a proposition is L-A-
C-K of F-A-I-T-H. The real reason you hate the idea of SETI is the fear
that it would actually succeed. Your entire superstitionist paradigm would
be destroyed by such a discovery.

Klazmon.

And there in lies the problem. The book burners of the US religious
right theocracy seek to destroy all science that might challenge the
"omnipotence" of their insecure and jjealous God (the one who faked the
universe to look much older than it's 6000 years).

Faith in the general sense (no religious overtones needed) is a
presumption of truth in knowledge, and the belief that efforts of the
faithful will be rewarded in a broader revelation of that truth. Saying
that SETI is a faith-based exercise does not imply that SETI researchers
are in any way religious or spiritual, but most people will agree that
some strong presumptions are involved, generally a no-no in science.

If they had faith they would not need to do the experiment at all. They
could just announce that they "knew" it to be true. Alleged alien
abductees and UFOlogists are in this camp.

SETI is a scientific experiment. They will either get a positive result
one day or they will go on looking forever (or until they decide to
give up in disgust). I reckon looking for green (or other coloured)
slime on other solar system bodies with atmospheres is a much better
bet for finding non-terrestrial life.

The other prospect is to detect planetary atmospheres by spectroscopy
with enough resolution to detect out of equilibrium conditions that are
the characteristic signature of life. Scientific instruments with the
required light grasp and resolution are already on the drawing board.
Mars also deserves a retry with modern analysis techniques. The Viking
experiments were very crude by comparison to what we can do now.

It's humorous to me that many here on saa vehemently deny the element of
faith that is plainly obvious in the SETI work. Why the anger and
denial? I think we can all agree that SETI is a harmless diversion,
science's version of Wiccans dancing nude in a meadow.

You are terrified that they might succeed. That is why you protest so
much.

Regards,
Martin Brown