I am a physician and amateur astrophysicist (if there is such a thing!) in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. I'm a very youthful 37 years of age and feel projects like SETI are key to unlocking the secrets of the universe. The SETI@home project is inspiring and i happily dedicate the CPU time of my dear computer Penelope (doesn't everyone name their computer?).
Good luck to SETI and all who are connected with this search for life elsewhere in the universe! Long live Drake and his equation!
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
Transmitting a beacon is probably not entirely useful given the distances involved to even the nearest stars. Any sophisticated society could probably identify our ambient electromagnetic signals as being artificial without such a beacon.
I truly believe the easiest way to identify another civilization is to do exactly what SETI is attempting...to identify purposeful or ambient electromagnetic activity which is artificial in its origin.
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.
