How smart are SETI@homers?

When a reasonable person fails to attain his
goal, he either abandons the goal or tries
a different method of attaining the goal.
An idiot is usually defined as someone who
responds to failure by doubling his efforts.

NASA is an ossified bureaucracy, but they are
not idiots. When their big SETI program failed,
they abandoned it. SETI@homers ignore their
failures and have little if any interest in
modifying their search method. Worse yet, they
seem to believe that some extraterrestrial
civilizations have been sending powerful
microwave beams toward the Earth for millions
of years. Why would the extraterrestrial tax
payers support such an effort? If we ever
receive their message it will say something
like: "Life is absurd. Have a happy suicide."

In semi-infinite wisdom Andrew Nowicki answered:
When a reasonable person fails to attain his
goal, he either abandons the goal or tries
a different method of attaining the goal.
An idiot is usually defined as someone who
responds to failure by doubling his efforts.

NASA is an ossified bureaucracy, but they are
not idiots. When their big SETI program failed,
they abandoned it.

No, congress told them to stop spending money
on SETI. NASA would spend trillions on SETI if
they had the funds. NASA cannot even account
for where their current funds go, after a GAO
audit.

SETI@homers ignore their
failures and have little if any interest in
modifying their search method.

What failures? SETI@home is an open research
project. Some expect it to work, but many,
myself included, think even negative evidence
worth having. We'll know what ain't there at
least.

Worse yet, they
seem to believe that some extraterrestrial
civilizations have been sending powerful
microwave beams toward the Earth for millions
of years.

I don't recall any search for extragalactic
sources. I think it's more of a 'what-if'
question that's being asked, and answered
mostly with voluntary computer power and
a hitched ride on Arecibo. Seems quite
acceptable to me. No one's being lied to,
unless they are being told that the Drake
equation is proof of ET civilizations (it
does seem a religion to many).

Why would the extraterrestrial tax
payers support such an effort?

I'm reminded of a quote by Woody Allen in
Without Feathers...

To you I'm an athiest, to god I'm the loyal opposition.

If we ever
receive their message it will say something
like: "Life is absurd. Have a happy suicide."

So I take it you're just trolling.

Have a nice day.

Rich

Andrew Nowicki wrote:

When a reasonable person fails to attain his
goal, he either abandons the goal or tries
a different method of attaining the goal.
An idiot is usually defined as someone who
responds to failure by doubling his efforts.

NASA is an ossified bureaucracy, but they are
not idiots. When their big SETI program failed,
they abandoned it. SETI@homers ignore their
failures and have little if any interest in
modifying their search method. Worse yet, they
seem to believe that some extraterrestrial
civilizations have been sending powerful
microwave beams toward the Earth for millions
of years. Why would the extraterrestrial tax
payers support such an effort? If we ever
receive their message it will say something
like: "Life is absurd. Have a happy suicide."


WOW ($1)


--
It Came From C. L. Smith's Unclaimed Mysteries.
http://www.unclaimedmysteries.net

"Bill Funk" said in rec.photo.digital: "Is this
actually part of your plan? To use tag lines to show your contempt,
while showing that you really have so little understanding?"

Andrew Nowicki wrote:
When a reasonable person fails to attain his
goal, he either abandons the goal or tries
a different method of attaining the goal.
An idiot is usually defined as someone who
responds to failure by doubling his efforts.

NASA is an ossified bureaucracy, but they are
not idiots. When their big SETI program failed,
they abandoned it. SETI@homers ignore their
failures and have little if any interest in
modifying their search method. Worse yet, they
seem to believe that some extraterrestrial
civilizations have been sending powerful
microwave beams toward the Earth for millions
of years. Why would the extraterrestrial tax
payers support such an effort? If we ever
receive their message it will say something
like: "Life is absurd. Have a happy suicide."

Why would you post something like that here? And if you was smart you
will know something like Seti will take a long time to reshach. Where is
a post in this news group can not remember what it is called but it
explains why we should not stop. And why and how long it may take. Maybe
someone could tell me where it is and I could but a google link to it.

In sci.space.policy Rich wrote:


In semi-infinite wisdom Andrew Nowicki answered:
When a reasonable person fails to attain his
goal, he either abandons the goal or tries
a different method of attaining the goal.
An idiot is usually defined as someone who
responds to failure by doubling his efforts.

NASA is an ossified bureaucracy, but they are
not idiots. When their big SETI program failed,
they abandoned it.

No, congress told them to stop spending money
on SETI. NASA would spend trillions on SETI if
they had the funds. NASA cannot even account
for where their current funds go, after a GAO
audit.

Yes, but that was not the reason of that funding cut.


SETI@homers ignore their
failures and have little if any interest in
modifying their search method.

What failures? SETI@home is an open research
project. Some expect it to work, but many,
myself included, think even negative evidence
worth having. We'll know what ain't there at
least.


More correctly, we know what wasn't where some time
ago. Remember, radio signals move at a finite speed,
so instead of "now" it is always looking at the past.

A positive result depends on there having been a
civilisation that was a strong radio source emitter
k years ago at the distance of k lightyears. This
is where Drake equation comes into play and why you
need not pay attention to whetever it then goes off
to conquer the stars or not.

The chance of detecting a signal from stars that are
say 5000 - 10000 lightyears awy depends on the chance
of there having been a civbilsation in the radio noise
phase among that relatively largis amount of stars
during teh past 5000-10000 years ago (though to be
sure about outermost stars, we have to listen for 5000
more years). Its an odd kind of archeology ;-)


Rich


--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++

I thought it was 'To Serve Man".

--
Mike Bader
Join our International team
http://www.setiathome.us
http://www.boinc.us

No of SETI units returned: 27139
Processing time: 48 years, 240 days, 18 hours.
(Total hours: 426258)

"CeeBee" wrote in message
. 6.74...
Andrew Nowicki wrote in sci.astro.seti:

If we ever
receive their message it will say something
like: "Life is absurd. Have a happy suicide."

The last message I received from them was: "we mean no harm to you
earthlings".

Sometimes I wonder why.

--
CeeBee


EMH Mark I: "Stop breathing down my neck."
EMH Mark II: "My breath is merely a simulation."
EMH Mark I: "So is my neck. Stop it anyway."

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 22:12:28 +0200, Andrew Nowicki
wrote:

When a reasonable person fails to attain his
goal, he either abandons the goal or tries
a different method of attaining the goal.
An idiot is usually defined as someone who
responds to failure by doubling his efforts.

So if I fail to chop down a tree with a single swing of an axe, by
your definition I would be an idiot to continue chopping? Sure, you
can argue that my 2nd and subsequent swings of the axe are not
identical to the first.... but then again the searches now being
conducted by SETI@HOME are not identical to earlier searches.
Different numbers of frequencies, different algorithms to detect
artifical signals among the noise and so on. The whole "shared
computing power" concept, while not unique to SETI, nonetheless got a
huge boost from the SETI@HOME project. Even if the SETI@HOME program
never finds what it is hoping for, it has been very valuable in
pioneering the way for other scientific projects that had been stalled
for lack of adequate computer power. So perhaps now a biochem program
(that wouldn't otherwise have have had funding for a supercomputer)
gets to discover something very useful to humanity.

There are times when even a good idea needs to be followed with
perseverance to ultimately succeed. There are other times when the
spinoffs turn out to be more important than the original goal. We
have had very little directly useful results from our trips to the
moon - but the research needed to MAKE those trips has resulted in
huge benefits here on earth.



NASA is an ossified bureaucracy, but they are
not idiots. When their big SETI program failed,
they abandoned it. SETI@homers ignore their
failures and have little if any interest in
modifying their search method.

As technology changes, so do the search methods. Right now the radio
bands and shared computers are the dominant search system - but now
there is growing interest in optical searches. Instead of a
generalized radio broadcast, a narrow laser aimed at a specific target
star might be the way the other civilizations might go. This would
require the other civilization to be actively trying to send messages
(even just the IMPLIED message "This was artificially and deliberately
sent"), but it has advantages. But anyone with a computer can
participate in the shared computing search. Anyone who can get hold
of an old, big satellite dish antenna (the 8'+ models) can do their
own searching, expecially in areas of the sky not covered by the main
search. I don't think we are quite to the point of backyard
astonomers looking for incoming laser light, but that may not be too
far away.

"Andrew Nowicki" wrote in message
...
When a reasonable person fails to attain his
goal, he either abandons the goal or tries
a different method of attaining the goal.
An idiot is usually defined as someone who
responds to failure by doubling his efforts.

NASA is an ossified bureaucracy, but they are
not idiots. When their big SETI program failed,
they abandoned it. SETI@homers ignore their
failures and have little if any interest in
modifying their search method. Worse yet, they
seem to believe that some extraterrestrial
civilizations have been sending powerful
microwave beams toward the Earth for millions
of years. Why would the extraterrestrial tax
payers support such an effort? If we ever
receive their message it will say something
like: "Life is absurd. Have a happy suicide."

If you feel SETI@HOME is a waste of time and an idiotic venture, remember
participation is voluntary... so happy trails to you my friend.

SC

Andrew Nowicki wrote:
When a reasonable person fails to attain his
goal, he either abandons the goal or tries
a different method of attaining the goal.
An idiot is usually defined as someone who
responds to failure by doubling his efforts.

NASA is an ossified bureaucracy, but they are
not idiots. When their big SETI program failed,
they abandoned it. SETI@homers ignore their
failures and have little if any interest in
modifying their search method. Worse yet, they
seem to believe that some extraterrestrial
civilizations have been sending powerful
microwave beams toward the Earth for millions
of years. Why would the extraterrestrial tax
payers support such an effort? If we ever
receive their message it will say something
like: "Life is absurd. Have a happy suicide."

Do you think ET congressrats (perhaps literally) are different from
ours and actually care what taxpayers think?

--
Why does England need Blair when they could save the
money and take orders directly from Bush?
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3133

So Columbus should have turned back after say 200 or 2,000 miles?