SETI

One thing to consider for the SETI @ home people.

Many beleive that the processing of work units is free because it
"only utilises spare cpu cycles that weren't being used anyway."

Those spare cpu cycles come at a real cost in electricity consumption
and thermal stress on your cpu. An idle cpu uses much less power.

"Rod Mollise" wrote in message
...
If he/she, stops actually looking, then he/she, should not be
suprised if they never see a ship.

HI Roger:

And THAT is the bottom line. ;-)




I believe that the earth is unique. We are stuck with the philosophical
argument that
humanity arose out of events that occured in a particular unique order on
earth over billions of years. As
did every living thing. You can extend this argument to the cosmos from the
big bang or beginning of
everything. And with that you begin to enter into the creation argument or a
strict absolute
order laid down, from the beginning..all physical laws..all "creation",
through time.

I have a difficult time believing the events of earth occur again and again
and again....mirror worlds
throughout the cosmos. Also, if there are civilizations why isn't there a
universal transit system of
time travellers and wormhole riders?

Davoud:
Wh not? SETI is silly enough to border on the pseudo-scienctific.
Pseudo-science is practiced by people who won't accept the truth about
The Way Things Are.

Rod Mollise:
Well, I'm glad _someone_ has the inside track on the Way Things Are.

Yes, me too.

In what way did you obtain this epiphany?

It wasn't an epiphany. It was a lot of years of keeping my eyes and
ears open and trying to rationalize what I saw and heard.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

"Toma" wrote in message
news:vk9yb.210626$jy.92388@clgrps13...

I have a difficult time believing the events of earth occur again and
again
and again...

I don't. The universe is either a habitat for life, or it's not. We have
evidence that it is. It happened here, it could happen anywhere. There's a
whole lotta "anywhere" out there.

But, I also think it doesn't matter. In the end it only proves that we are
not unique, which resolves some pretty petty arguments. The major problems
on earth will continue on as if we were unique.

Stephen Paul

Stephen Paul:
The universe is either a habitat for life, or it's not. We have
evidence that it is.

Ignoring for a moment the postulates of quantum mechanics, we have
proof -- not mere evidence -- that there is life on one planet in the
universe.

It happened here, it could happen anywhere. There's a
whole lotta "anywhere" out there.

No, it obviously can't happen just anywhere. If it could, we'd know it
by now. Substitute "elsewhere" for "anywhere," and you will be closer.
But I would argue that the fact that life arose on Earth does not prove
that it could arise elsewhere.

But, I also think it doesn't matter. In the end it only proves that we are
not unique...

I'm sure that you meant to say that [the discovery of life elsewhere]
"*would* only prove that we are not unique..."

Since there is not a shred of evidence that life exists elsewhere, I do
not believe that it does. When I see evidence I will be come hopeful.
When I see proof, I will believe. I also doubt whether, given the size
of the universe and the proscription of FTL travel and communication,
we will ever find evidence that we are not alone.

Nonetheless, I think that it would matter very much if we found
convincing evidence of intelligent life elsewhere. Such a discovery
would fundamentally alter our view of ourselves and the universe as a
whole. Who can imagine what advances a determined effort to go and meet
these newly discovered people might bring?

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

"Toma" wrote in message
news:vk9yb.210626$jy.92388@clgrps13...

"Rod Mollise" wrote in message
...
If he/she, stops actually looking, then he/she, should not be
suprised if they never see a ship.

HI Roger:

And THAT is the bottom line. ;-)




I believe that the earth is unique. We are stuck with the philosophical
argument that
humanity arose out of events that occured in a particular unique order on
earth over billions of years. As
did every living thing. You can extend this argument to the cosmos from
the
big bang or beginning of
everything. And with that you begin to enter into the creation argument or
a
strict absolute
order laid down, from the beginning..all physical laws..all "creation",
through time.

I have a difficult time believing the events of earth occur again and
again
and again....mirror worlds
throughout the cosmos. Also, if there are civilizations why isn't there a
universal transit system of
time travellers and wormhole riders?




I too believe the Earth is unique. I doubt that there are mirror worlds,
but I have no doubt that there are are other forms of life out there, albeit
radically different from us.

Also, if there are civilizations why isn't there a
universal transit system of
time travellers and wormhole riders?

We are a civilization, and we don't ride wormholes or time travel. That
doesn't disprove our existence. I don't know if wormholes exist (they are
an interesting speculation, but are not proven), but if they are being used
for transit, how would we know? We're not looking for such things. Let's
face it, space is vast- incredibly, extremely, spectacularly vast. The
chances of finding any proof of life out there are quite small, even if life
is relatively abundant (personally, I think intelligent life is very rare).
This is more of a technical issue, like the limitations of our radio
equipment. Space travel is complex, expensive, and dangerous, and extremely
inefficient - even life more intelligent than ourselves are subject to the
same laws of physics as us, and the same limitations as well. Even if some
beings in a distant galaxy did actually figure out a way to travel between
any two points in the universe instantly, what are the chances that they
would encounter us?

Personally, I don't think that that SETI will ever find any alien signals,
but not because there aren't any. They would have to be pointed at us, and
we would have have to be pointed at them at the same moment (accounting for
light travel time, of course), and transmitting/receiving at the same
frequency, and using compatible modulation methods, and with sufficiently
powerful transmitter/receiver, and both civilizations must exist at the same
moment (if the concept of a universal moment applies). The odds against
that are very high.

But we still must try. It is a question that no one can truly answer, and
that binds us to seek the truth. To me, the fact that we are here, the
diversity of life on our planet, and the size and complexity of our
universe, is absolute proof of the existence of life in our universe (here
and elsewhere). I cannot even fathom the possibility that there is no other
life out there.

Regards,
wezelball

"Geoff" wrote in message
...

One thing to consider for the SETI @ home people.

Many beleive that the processing of work units is free because it
"only utilises spare cpu cycles that weren't being used anyway."

Those spare cpu cycles come at a real cost in electricity consumption
and thermal stress on your cpu. An idle cpu uses much less power.
Yes, it uses more power, but it _decreases_ the thermal stress on the CPU.
Since the CPU never idles it remains largely at a constant temperature. It
is programs that make excessive use of the CPU 'halt' functions, and switch
off large amounts of the CPU, that lead to thermal stress problems.

Best Wishes

So, you're saying what? There isn't anyone else in the entire universe? I've
read all your posts on this thread and I'm still not sure what you're trying
to say.

I can't figure out if you're some religious fanatic, God created man
therefore he didn't create any other intelligent beings, or just lack any
imagination. Please write a book on "The Way Things Are" so I can learn,
otherwise I'll just keep questioning things.;-)



--

Bill Carey
MS Messenger - RedEyes2
ICQ - 19370799
XBox Live - RedEyes

"Davoud" wrote in message
...
Bill Carey:
I'm up to 5000, and just got belittled by a friend for bothering. Here
is
the answer I gave him.....

"Why Seti? Why not. [sic] If you decide to look in a canyon to see if
there are
people you might take a quick look around to see if any one is flashing
a
mirror at you before setting up the radio scanner. Since we're a few
years
away from being able to do a search for communications based on quantam
entanglement or some other FTL technology, let's look for the flashing
mirrors while we're waiting."

I'll bet that that lucid explanation really set him straight,
especially the non sequitur about the radio scanner.

Wh not? SETI is silly enough to border on the pseudo-scienctific.
Pseudo-science is practiced by people who won't accept the truth about
The Way Things Are. The pseudo-scientists want different, more
romanticized, solutions, and they are continually having to invent
reasons why their postulates don't work -- just as SETI devotees have
devised a list of reasons why we haven't heard from anyone yet.

Don't hold your breath until you detect the LGM, especially via an FTL
dispatch.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

Bill Carey:

So, you're saying what? There isn't anyone else in the entire universe? I've
read all your posts on this thread and I'm still not sure what you're trying
to say.

I can't figure out if you're some religious fanatic, God created man
therefore he didn't create any other intelligent beings, or just lack any
imagination. Please write a book on "The Way Things Are" so I can learn,
otherwise I'll just keep questioning things.;-)

And you? Is your Vision so manifestly correct that anyone who fails to
see your view of The Way Things Are is an unimaginative religious
fanatic, fair game for character assassination? Is that your
understanding of how the scientific method works?

There are a lot of books about The Way Things Are. Insofar as life
elsewhere is concerned, none of them contains anything more than
fanciful guesses.

Show me some evidence that there is someone else out there.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

It wasn't an epiphany. It was a lot of years of keeping my eyes and
ears open and trying to rationalize what I saw and heard.

Hi:

Saw and heard what? What this boils down to is that you FEEL there's no
intelligent, communicating life in the universe.


Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
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