Why did we spend so much $$$ on project SETI?

Question

Not even a ping? I know that it only scans a limited/known band of frequencies and only about 5% of the cosmos.
But wait? The cosmos is , what? 6.5 billion years old and according to certain stataticians, the chances of life in other parts of our own galaxy is extremely favorable.
So certainly many millions of civilizations like our own, would have come and gone. Millions, even billions of years ago.
Should not the cosmos be alive with their transmissions? They have had millions and millions of light years of time to bounce around?
Yet?
Not even a ping.

Answer 1

i think we still are, but heh whatever floats there boat,

Answer 2

As has been noted elsewhere, WE didn't spend all that money on SETI. It has either been privately funded or piggybacked onto legitimate research questions. The search for extraterrestrial signals in new areas of the spectrum, though, is continually adding to our understanding of the universe. The universal microwave background and pulsars were both proved to be real natural phenomena after testing for and screening out possible intelligently built sources.

The Fermi paradox, "Where is everybody", says much more about our preconceptions in asking the question at this point than it does about life in the universe. Why for example, when all our present trends are to radiate less, would an advanced civilization of our general type want to fling electromagnetic energy wastefully around the sky? What really are the chances of development of multicellular life? When we have solid evidence of life on other planets, we'll be able to do a little better job of guessing about intelligent life.

Answer 3

As others pointed out, that much is spent by private donations, so they spend that much because it's something they believe in and can afford to support.

I'm not sure what the problem with that is.

There is a set of assumptions that are made, that one in this kind of endevor is forced to make, but they are assumptions none the less.

We are assuming any sufficently advanced technology will be using Electromagnetic Transmissions like we use. Television, Raido, Satelites, ect. They may simply not or have found something else .

It's possible that any sufficently advanced race may have evolved past the need for physical bodies, but that's speculatve.. just like everything about this question.

It's possible that of the 'certianly many millions of civilizations like our own' that would have 'come and gone millions of years ago' might be millions of lightyears away. Their first signal could show up any day, for all we know.

The age of the Universe is more like 13 Billion years, not 6.5, and the Earth is more like 4.6. Humans have been around for a tiny fraction of that time.

I mean, you say any civlizations would have came and gone by now, but we're here now. So it's obviously not impossible.

There are too many possibilitys in play and at distances so long, I don't really think your argument works.

So, I guess my advice would be, if you think SETI is a waste of money, don't give them any.

Answer 4

The SETI project is privately funded. No government funds are used. People can do what they want with their money.

Your are right, though. So far we've seen no verifiable evidence of other sentient species. That said, I believe with some certainty that somewhere in our galaxy at some past, present, or future time, a sentient species did/does/will exist.

Why haven't we heard from them?

Perhaps they are not technologically advanced enough to be heard. They may be mastering stone knives right now, or experiencing their own Rennaisance.

Perhaps they are here right now. Any species sufficiently advanced to travel interstellar distances would be able to hide or masquerade with ease. That Boeing 737 that just flew by may be a surveillance craft.

Perhaps they are so far away they will never notice us and vice versa.

Perhaps they existed a million years ago and died out.

Perhaps they will exist a million years from now.

It is really impossible to know for sure.

The Drake Equation suggests that there is sentient life out there. The Fermi Paradox casts doubt. Play around with the calculation form at the second link and see what you think.

Answer 5

How much is "so much $$$"?
In 1979, a proposal to fund SETI was turned down by the House and the Senate (see link). In 1983, funding was grated at the tune of about $2 million per year (or roughly the equivalent of 1 penny per US citizen per year) wich went on until funding was cancelled in 1992. Total cost: less than 9 cents per US citizen. Since then, SETI is essentially funded by private grants and donation.

The observable universe is seemingly 13.7 billion years old. However, if we use our exustance as a template, a star with a planetary system able to support life needs a metallicity that indicates 3rd generation star, essentially a satr as young as our sun. To have life appear and evolve to the point of having a technically advanced civilization requires 4.5 billion years or so, since the birth of the solar system. This means that technologically advanced civilizations may be thousands, perhaps million of years old, but not billion.

Now, assuming that there would be civilization out there, why not a ping?
Well, most of our own broadcasts are at our intention, and as such, are not necessarily easily detectable as soon as you get a few astronomical units from earth. Just look how delicate it is to keep in touch with space probes, and we know exactly where they are, so the radio communication beam can be highly directional, and thus "concentrated".
If one wanted to listen to earth radio just a dozen light years away, one would need antenna several kilometre across. And to get a signal coming for a direction so narrow, the antenna would have to be deliberately pointed towards us with high accuracy, a few fraction of a degree off, and you miss the signal. It could be made simpler IF the signal was deliberately emitted in the direction of the antenna, but that means sending a signal specifically in one direction, and the only time we are doing that is when communicating with space probes and satellites.
The situation, from our own perspective is that we are trying to listen to a civilization that wants to be picked up, the ET has to emit at our intention; something we are *not* doing for the benefit of other possible civilizations ourselves.
SETI is not looking for a needle in a haystack, it is looking for a possible needle in all the haystack in the world, and there is not even a way to know if the needle wanst to be found, and is not concealed outside of the haystack.
Moreover, if you look at the current trend in communications, most high power radio signal may reduce in the future, as more TV will be sent via cable, and that satellite radio are using high frequency swithching or wide channels for faster communication speed, instead of having a single clear and distinct signal. All this makes a signal much harder to identify. If ET somewhere is doing the same as we are, then their signal might be equally hard to pick up, and good detectable signal may happen for only a short period in the life of a civilization. Not only that: suppose a planet has one hemisphere that is uninhabited, and that the SETI radio telescope happens to be pointed to that planet just during the time only the non-emitting side of the planet is towards us? We missed the signal that could have been picked up if we had tuned them just a few hours earlier or later.
So why are people doing it if the odds of finding anything are so small? Same answer as to why people play the lotery with so little odds of winning. If we do not find anything, we did not lose much. If we find something, the consequence and benefit would be so incredebly huge, it defies description.
In my opinion, SETI is much better way of spending a few pennies than growing tabacco plants only to burn them in toxic cigarettes.

Answer 6

The cosmos is a big place. Statistically, the nearest intelligent race is 200 light years away. You have to look in the right place at the right time. We just may not have found the signal yet. As for the money spent, it is a drop in the bucket compared to other government projects, yet when you consider the affect of finding such a signal, knowing that someone else can survive technological adolescence is worth the money

Answer 7

Seti will not find ET life. Real ETs only show up in this dimension on accident. Furthermore their communications are telepathic and leave no "waves" to be heard. We are on the verge of a new age in scientific breakthroughs in energy, gravity, and inter-dimensional movement. New discoveries are being made every day that prove things such as gravity is a field that emanates from another dimension and it is possible to block that field, shilding against gravity and break free of its restraints. Monatomic gold allows for this shielding and can even move into and back from an alternate dimension. Extra-terrestrial life exists, Roswell crash was real and there have been other crashes since then. Government is hiding or destroying the evidence. ETs use materials that humans do not have understanding of how to reproduce so their technology is useless to us at this point but gives us a direction to pursue. ETs came before to discover now they run risk of being abducted by us so they avoid our planet. We are not alone. Think for yourself and don't let someone tease or bully you into thinking like them. It's a free universe and your discoveries will enhance your life not diminish them.

Answer 8

To communicate with other civilisations around the universe so that we can learn from them how is their science, technology, social structure etc. and use that knowledge in furthering human interests on planet earth.

Something which looks impossible now... might be possible tomorrow or ... the day after. Keep searching. Think of the researchers who kept their moral high, even with such impossible odds. Cheers.

Answer 9

The easy answer is because it is there. The real answer is we want to know more , and yet again more still.
It is pure research and so will pay completely out of proportion to its cost.
Example fire. was there a need for fire? No, it was a natural disaster that occurred rarely and destroyed vast areas of the plant and animal life it occurred in, but heck some "fool" "wasted" his time finding out how to make it.
Darn if it didn't turn out to be use full.

SETI Has no real use except to find out thousands of facts about our universe. Humm wonder how that will work out?

look at where it is leading go to "SETI at home" (that is a web address), and look at the dozens of research projects that it has lead to to improve our world or lives , or foolishly , just to find out.

Answer 10

imagine contacting another civilization. There is most certanley life out there it would take genration and generation to get to the other side of our galaxy at the speed of light imagine space is so vast and thats the reason why

hope that helps cheers

Answer 11

The SETI project will probably never bear fruit,but the chance is there and it must be taken!