Random SETI Comments & Questions

[Jeff V]

I caught a program on The History Channel about SETI.

They said that litening, and looking power is 100 trillion times greater than when they began in the 60's. They also said computers measure and read patterns in sound, and light down to one billionth of a second in duration looking for signs of intelligence. And new technology that will see much larger areas in great detail-can't remember the stats here.

To date-nothing.

Regardless of religious beliefs-doesn't it take a tremendous amount of faith to keep looking? What basis is there to keep believing? Is the vastness of space reason enough to keep looking? Would I be out of line in saying that it's ok for these "scientists" to be taken seriously, but one that believes in God can't/shouldn't?

Jeff likes using -'s and to a lesser extent /'s and an even lesser extent third person vagueries. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[BigSoonerFan]

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I caught a program on The History Channel about SETI.

They said that litening, and looking power is 100 trillion times greater than when they began in the 60's. They also said computers measure and read patterns in sound, and light down to one billionth of a second in duration looking for signs of intelligence. And new technology that will see much larger areas in great detail-can't remember the stats here.

To date-nothing.

Regardless of religious beliefs-doesn't it take a tremendous amount of faith to keep looking? What basis is there to keep believing? Is the vastness of space reason enough to keep looking? Would I be out of line in saying that it's ok for these "scientists" to be taken seriously, but one that believes in God can't/shouldn't?

Jeff likes using -'s and to a lesser extent /'s and an even lesser extent third person vagueries. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

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There is so much to listen to, we have barely started. With space growing quickly the farther you look out and the span of wavelengths to look at, it may take two or three more days to catch it all! :-)

[Bork]

Its a scientific endeavor. They are observing the universe looking for evidence. So far it looks like there isnt anything out there but the universe is far more vast than could ever be searched by humans. I dont see where faith comes in. Many people involved in SETI believe there probably isnt any life out there but it doesnt hurt to look. People who are doing things based on faith usually dont want to observe the world because they feel it is a waste of time, since they know the truth already.

[chezlaw]

It doesn't require any faith to keep looking, although you could argue the money could be spent better elsewhere.

It would take faith to insist that they know they will find what they are looking for.

I don't see why it bothers you, its interesting and it would be awesome if the did find something.

chez

SETI is pseudo science. The arguments used to support continuing to fund it (usually a variation on a formula first written down by Francis Drake) involve so much guess work and approximation that you can get any answer you want. Personally, I believe it's likely there is life on other planets - but there's no scientific basis for that belief. As you say - it's a matter of faith.

[chezlaw]

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SETI is pseudo science. The arguments used to support continuing to fund it (usually a variation on a formula first written down by Francis Drake) involve so much guess work and approximation that you can get any answer you want. Personally, I believe it's likely there is life on other planets - but there's no scientific basis for that belief. As you say - it's a matter of faith.

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Seti is just an experiment. The idea that there is life out there is a hyopothesis. These are parts of science and are nothing to do with faith.

chez

[chezlaw]

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[ QUOTE ]
SETI is pseudo science. The arguments used to support continuing to fund it (usually a variation on a formula first written down by Francis Drake) involve so much guess work and approximation that you can get any answer you want. Personally, I believe it's likely there is life on other planets - but there's no scientific basis for that belief. As you say - it's a matter of faith.

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Seti is just an experiment. The idea that there is life out there is a hyopothesis. These are parts of science and are nothing to do with faith.

[The bit that's a bit different is they are looking for evidence rather than trying to disprove anything, so its more of an exploration than an experiment]

chez

That's my point. It's not science. It's saying "Hey this would be cool if we found it, though we have no good reason to believe we will...let's go look"

[chezlaw]

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That's my point. It's not science. It's saying "Hey this would be cool if we found it, though we have no good reason to believe we will...let's go look"

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First you look for data based on some weakish hypothesis. If they find some interesting data then they will form a strong hypothesis that the data is evidence of intelligence and then they will rigourously test this hypothesis - if they fail then they start to believe they have found ET.

This is science.

chez

[imported_luckyme]

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That's my point. It's not science. It's saying "Hey this would be cool if we found it, though we have no good reason to believe we will...let's go look"

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Having found one planet with at least moderately intelligent life forms on it doesn't rule out that there could be others, it's the other way around. It's not like they're looking for something that we have no idea whether it can exist..life forms exist.

Let's see, there are other suns similar to ours, there are other planets similar to ours, why would we assume the similarity stops there, that'd be perverse.

Sounds like basic science - similar conditions should/could lead to similar results...let's look. In this case, there's no reason to believe the conditions need be all that similar, just certain parameters increase the likelihood.