I'm just a regular guy. I'm a computer technician from Canada. I'm also a big science-fiction fan and the subject of Extra Terrestrials always fascinated me. I do beleive we can't be alone in this huge universe and therefore there must be someone else out there. I found out about SETI@home a few years ago and I registered right away. I've been really glad that I could lend a hand and I will keep on doing my share as long as needed.
I hope SETI@home will be around many more years to come!
Yes I do beleive extraterrestrial life exists. In which form it does I have no idea but we can surelly hope they would look similar to us. On this Earth we have carbon based lifeforms. I guess it would probally be the same on Earth like planets out there :)
As far as benefits and dangers go; I personnaly think it'll depend on how smart or stupid we'll be when an encounter will happen.
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.