Has it ever occured to anyone here that we mabye lending our CPU time to Seti in vain? I've been running Seti for a while now and I do believe that it is an important/meaningful project that I would like to contribute to. Howerver do any of us really believe that if we were to find life in other planets/galaxies through Seti or other projects.....would the government really allow it to become public? Just look at the Roswell incident. I'm not one to say that something landed in Roswell, but i do believe something meaningful happened there that day and the government is keeping it from us. I strongly beileve that the government would do everything in theri power to keep it under wraps for the longest. Once again I think all that we are doing is in vain...but then again thats just my thought. Any comments?

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Has it ever occured to anyone here that we mabye lending our CPU time to Seti in vain? I've been running Seti for a while now and I do believe that it is an important/meaningful project that I would like to contribute to. Howerver do any of us really believe that if we were to find life in other planets/galaxies through Seti or other projects.....would the government really allow it to become public? Just look at the Roswell incident. I'm not one to say that something landed in Roswell, but i do believe something meaningful happened there that day and the government is keeping it from us. I strongly beileve that the government would do everything in theri power to keep it under wraps for the longest. Once again I think all that we are doing is in vain...but then again thats just my thought. Any comments?

I too think you are giving the Government too much credit! For them to do what you are suggesting would mean that they would have to be a part of the actual process on the Berkeley end. I am guessing they would either have to be undercover or Berkeley would have to be a part of the cover-up. Those do not seem likely with the small number of people involved.

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Who know what they're keeping in here

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Has it ever occured to anyone here that we mabye lending our CPU time to Seti in vain? I've been running Seti for a while now and I do believe that it is an important/meaningful project that I would like to contribute to. Howerver do any of us really believe that if we were to find life in other planets/galaxies through Seti or other projects.....would the government really allow it to become public? Just look at the Roswell incident. I'm not one to say that something landed in Roswell, but i do believe something meaningful happened there that day and the government is keeping it from us. I strongly beileve that the government would do everything in theri power to keep it under wraps for the longest. Once again I think all that we are doing is in vain...but then again thats just my thought. Any comments?

The government couldn't keep the secrets for the atomic bomb. If they couldn't keep that under wraps, do you really think they could cover up something in Roswell?

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Just look at the Roswell incident. I'm not one to say that something landed in Roswell, but i do believe something meaningful happened there that day and the government is keeping it from us. I strongly beileve that the government would do everything in theri power to keep it under wraps for the longest.

The government couldn't keep the secrets for the atomic bomb. If they couldn't keep that under wraps, do you really think they could cover up something in Roswell?

There is a difference: the atomic bomb was known to the whole world when it was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I guess spies have an easier job to find something secret when they know it exists, than to look for something that may not exist and is based on rumors only.

But I don't think "the government" would cover up any evidence or proof of ET life. For one thing, scientific operations like this one are not controlled by one country (as they say in the movie Contact). Second, if the authorities would even attempt controlling such a thing at Berkeley, I beleive the riots in the 60's would be peanuts in comparison to the reaction they'd get. :)

Just look at the Roswell incident. I'm not one to say that something landed in Roswell, but i do believe something meaningful happened there that day and the government is keeping it from us. I strongly beileve that the government would do everything in theri power to keep it under wraps for the longest.

The government couldn't keep the secrets for the atomic bomb. If they couldn't keep that under wraps, do you really think they could cover up something in Roswell?

There is a difference: the atomic bomb was known to the whole world when it was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I guess spies have an easier job to find something secret when they know it exists, than to look for something that may not exist and is based on rumors only.

But I don't think "the government" would cover up any evidence or proof of ET life. For one thing, scientific operations like this one are not controlled by one country (as they say in the movie Contact). Second, if the authorities would even attempt controlling such a thing at Berkeley, I beleive the riots in the 60's would be peanuts in comparison to the reaction they'd get. :)

True enough, but about the only thing the US government has ever successfully kept secret was the stealth bombers, thats not a very good track record.

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Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence


are on the web at http://www.seti.org/site/pp.asp?c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=179287

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For me the big question is why would any government want to keep the discovery of ETI a secret? What would be their motivation?
Would the discovery of ETI have any adverse affects on the human race?
I dont think so, especially if we find ET in another galaxy. They would be too far away to even establish meaningful contact.
I would be very interested to know what others think about this subject.

"DC"

I believe there is absolutely no chance of us finding an ETI in another galaxy. All of the worlds current SETI efforts are looking for an ETI within 100 or so light years of earth as that is all our technology can handle at the moment.

Live long and crunch.

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Paul
(S@H1 8888)
And proud of it!

As much as I am dedicated to this project, in reality it strongly resembles archaeology as much as anything else. No direct conversation or fresh interaction with the subject, only intelligent analysis of what we think might be a clue to what we're looking for. To continue the analogy, we're like archaeologists in the 1800's in as far as our experience and depth of knowledge is concerned. Also, if we were to find incontravertable proof of the existence of advanced intelligent life elsewhere and we were to send off a return message right this minute, the likelihood is that we would all be dead or much closer to it before that message reached them and certainly long gone before their return message got back here.

I'm not a defeatist nor am I in any way disparaging this or other projects. On the contrary, I feel like I am some Victorian era average Joe who gets to help learn about the pyramids and "those mysterious dinosaur things" from his sitting room. It's an opportunity unlike any other before for a layperson to contribute to the cause of science other than by writing a check. So you ask,

Has it ever occured to anyone here that we mabye lending our CPU time to Seti in vain?

Nope.

Jim

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Without love, breath is just a clock ... ticking.
Equilibrium

Again, I must say I agree with you, Jim. :-) (Funny coincidence, isn't it? Maybe a conspiracy? ;-) )

No, I don't think either that any kind of discovery of ETI would be of any importance to us, except for the news value. What happened back in 1967, when Jocelyn Bell discovered the pulsars, where she thought it was "little green men"?

No, this project is interesting for the development of distributed computer technologies and what it can be used for, and this is what Seti@Home will gain its fame and be remembered for.

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"I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me