SETI is inspirational as an exercise in computing theory. It seem ridiculous that life could not have evolved on other planets, given the sheer scale of the numbers involved.
Here's to the day we see proof positive that we are not alone!
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.