Does SETI work?

Question

What is the purpose of the SETI started by NASA? If it is to detect aliens from outerspace then why does many earthlings report being abducted or seeing space aliens in our planet?

Answer 1

Because they are delusional or the aliens are better scientists than us humans

Answer 2

SETI is no longer NASA, it is a privately funded project, and some schools may put money in as well.

As for whether it "works", (by works I am assuming you mean sucessful) we won't know that until either we detect alien life OR conclude in other ways that life is rare to non existant in the universe. You question is like asking "does a telescope work?" If there is something to see then yes, the telescope works. If there isn't anything to see, then apparently not.

As for people seeing aliens and reporting abductions, those people are mostly delusional. Look up the terms "night terrors" "night hag" or "sleep paralysis" on google to learn what most people are ACTUALLY seeing.

Answer 3

SETI stands for SEARCH for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Since it IS searching it is a success. That it will find something is unlikely because the window where a technological civilization is emitting in wavelengths SETI is looking for is very short. We humans have been broadcasting for only about 140 years out of the 4 billion years the earth has been here. On the other hand, if we do detect a signal it will be a watershed point in human history, i.e., the payoff is so huge that the search is worth it despite the odds..

Answer 4

Those people claiming to having been abducted are either delusional or trying to be interesting (so they can sell their books).

As for SETI, if it was not for it, many people would demand it, the question is what are the chance of finding something. Can we afford to miss the call, if there is one, however? I don't think so...

SETI has essentially zero chance of finding alien life out there unless some alien out there wants to be found. The distance makes any emission very low powered, and requires them to essentally be deliberately aimed at us (ours, the omni directional TV and radio signals, are too thinly spread out to be reasonnably detectable with an antenna smaller than several kilometer wide just a couple of light years out)

Answer 5

In 1977 when SETI was being run by volunteers at a university (I believe Ohio State), one of the volunteers started his day by examining the previous night's printouts from the telescope and noticed a very strong signal, which he wrote "wow!" next to on the paper. It has ever since been known as the 'wow! signal', but despite many attempts in the following days and years to find that strong signal again, it has never been located. Its source is still unkown.

If you want to help SETI in its search, you can download a screensaver from SETI@home which uses your computer to help sort through the huge amount of data that the SETI telescopes constantly recieve. It runs when your screensaver is turned on. You can download it here: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

Answer 6

IMHO - For thousands of years (if not, more) we have been visited by folk from other planets. This is related in the Bible as well (Read Ezekiel)!

SETI was meant to find proof of life elsewhere in the universe. However, if it were ever found, the (US) government would surpress the information.

Abductions do happen! At least according to hypnotheropy! Google Betty and Barney Hill and learn more!

Hope this helps!

IMHO,

The Ol' Sasquatch Ü

Answer 7

SETI was dismantled after they started to get results.

Answer 8

They do look for radio signals from space, so yes it does "work" as it should. They haven't found anything (yet) so in that sense, it does not work, or has not worked yet.