I found out about this project through h2g2, the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy website (www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2) where I have been reading (and occasionally writing) for almost a year now
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
If extraterrestrial life exists, then I imagine that initial contact will be established remotely (eg via inter-galactic broadcasts or a crewless ship coming into range) rather than by some alien pranksters turning up in the dead of night in some rural setting where the witnesses will have little comprehension of what's happening and even less credibility when they break the news
Possible benefits and dangers of such a discovery?
Wait and see... could be quite risky, after all we set about (in earnest) advertising our whereabouts many years ago and we (as a species) are still rather undeveloped/uncivilised/blood-thirsty/war-prone
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.
