SETI: Is It Worth It?

By Seth Shostak
Senior Astronomer, SETI
posted: 08 November 2007
06:09 am ET


It's a risky long shot that burns up money and might never, ever pay off. So is searching for intelligent creatures on unseen worlds worth the candle? After all, aren't there better ways to use our monies and technical talents than trying to find something that's only posited to exist: sentient beings in the dark depths of space?

This is a question that surfaces more often than dead fish. "Why should my precious dollars be used for SETI when there's so much suffering in the world?"

It deserves an answer.

To begin with, allow me to get a technical misunderstanding off the table. As many readers know, SETI is not paid for with your tax dollars. At least, not if you're in the United States (where most SETI is conducted). Since 1993, when Congress killed the NASA SETI program, the search for signals from other societies has been funded by private donations. To be candid, even before that date, the amount of tax that was SETI-bound was only about three cents per year per citizen. But let's not argue whether that was a heavy burden or not: the facts are, it's currently zero. If you don't want to contribute to SETI, then it costs you nothing.

That small truth hardly silences critics, however. They look at SETI donors, and wonder aloud why these folks don't write those checks for medical research, foreign aid, or other humanitarian programs. In other words, the critics' plea is that we put all our money where our collective mouths are.

Well, such a circumstance has never been the case, and never should be.

A cursory glance at history shows that, even when people are routinely dying of hunger in the streets, some fraction of any civilized nation's resources have gone to seeking new things, or creating new things. Donors and patrons will always spend some monies on activities that, when analyzed on the crassest, basest level is "useless for society." They do that for lots of reasons – burnishing their image, love of Bulgarian ballet, or maybe just a desire to save fresh-water otters. But that's beside the point: if you give money to the local heart association, maybe it's because you're thoroughly altruistic. Or perhaps, deep down, you figure it might help you or your family in the long run. Either way, it's a good thing from society's standpoint.

Yes, but isn't "good" relative? Shouldn't there be a cost-benefit calculation here? Shouldn't philanthropists opt for the most effective project, in terms of societal improvement? That may sound good, but even aside from issues of free will, that argument leads to a terminally murky battle on what's important and what isn't. And sometimes what's unimportant today can become very important tomorrow.

Consider some examples. In Italy at the start of the 17th century, Medici family members Ferdinand and Cosimo proffered a regular allowance to an ambitious academic from Padua, Galileo Galilei. The guy found spots on the Sun and moons around Jupiter. You could have bought some meals with that money instead. But Galileo's work turned our worldview upside down by showing that Copernicus was right. I'm glad he got the florins.

Two hundred years later, Emperor Joseph II of Austria ponied up some coins to fund Wolfgang Mozart. Was this a good idea? Mozart was just writing music, for goodness sake. You can't eat music (unless you're a goat). But I can feast on it, and I do.

Then there are SETI's analogs from the first years of the twentieth century: the multiple attempts to pierce the heart of Antarctica and reach the South Pole. The principal men who led these forays into the lethal landscape at the bottom of the world – Shackleton, Scott, and Amundsen – did so for approximately the same reasons that motivate anyone with ambition: career advancement, glory, adventure, or simply to prove that they had the right stuff in the white stuff. But we're not talking about their motivation: we're asking why anyone would fund these guys. All three had donations from individuals. James Caird, a wealthy Dundee jute manufacturer, gave Shackleton a hefty hunk of change; steel magnate William Beardmore funded Scott on his first expedition; and Lincoln Ellsworth, son of an American industrialist, wrote checks for Amundsen.

There's hardly any mystery about why these private citizens would send explorers to realms that offered only frostbite and a bit of national pride in return. Yes, they were in it for the image building – the celebrity that would rub off on them if their boys brought back the bacon (only Beardmore seems to have expected to make a profit.) But these sponsors, like their proteges, were also driven by curiosity – an inherent interest in exploration, in learning about the unknown. They wanted to know what was out there. For these folks – people who couldn't breach the frontiers themselves – it was exploration by proxy.

So, and perhaps too obviously, it's not inevitably about financial return. But it's also not always about new cures, new products, or even the alleviation of suffering. As Richard Feynman once said about physics, "it's like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results. But that's not why we do it."

And really, I think the same is true of the quest to find a signal from the stars. Funders of SETI are not putting their boodle on the table for commercial or national advantage. They're not hoping we'll be able to proselytize the aliens, nor do they await an opportunity to beat their chests with satisfaction if we find them. And while there's always the possibility that we'll learn wonderful things from an interstellar transmission, SETI speaks to a quintessential human need even without that carrot – the quest to know. More to the point: to know how we fit in. What is our part in the enormous cultural tapestry that we suspect threads the star fields of the Galaxy?

Are we truly biologically or intellectually special? One radio whistle from the cosmos would answer that question. Even if a discovery deflates our egos, it's still something that would be incredibly interesting to know. Ignorance is not bliss – it's only ignorance. When Copernicus argued that our view of an Earth-centered universe was parochial and wrong, he cracked a door in a stuffy house. SETI could blow out every window in the place.

As technologist Paul Allen said while commissioning the first elements of the new telescope that bears his name, "I like to call SETI the longest of long shots. But if this array picks up a signal, that would be an amazing thing – a civilization-changing event."

Surely, that's worth the candle.

For the amount of money that is spent on Wars and military technology, the ammount spent on Seti is tiny...

So i would say keep Seti going because to stop Seti is like saying we are giving up our seach, after only a few seconds out of the block's.....

Keep it going i say, would rather tax money went on project's like this than another missile or bomb to drop on someone.....

Fen is right. No matter what, our government always has spent gross amounts of money on projects that do not always require as much, and I'm sure it always will. I may not pay taxes yet, but when I do, I would prefer them to go to ANYTHING but war advancement.

I say either cut down the funding a little on everything to help other issues in the world, or let things be and accept it the way you will. Either way, SETI shouldn't be singled out amongst all of the others.

"War advancement" is a glib and unrealistic description of defense spending. I don't agree with the Iraq war, so let's not go there, but if you think the US could afford to weaken it's defense spending you need to pay closer attention.

That being said, like probably most here, I think SETI is a more than worthwhile expenditure and in fact science and tech spending should increase greatly.

All this time and nothing.
Who cares what the cost is...high ...or low.
My feelings is Seti is a sink hole.
They will never find anything, because frankly, I think any signals they are hoping to find, degrade.
The distances combined with the natural noise and stellar interferance destroys them.

Waste of time. Waste of money.

I'm sorry but I don't honestly think that SETI is worth "squat". I personally think that it is one huge elaborate smokescreen put up on behalf of the U.S.Government and their Security Agencies to hide the truth from us all.
During my own pathetic, amateurish attempts to find out the truth I have come across several articles, reports etc that supposedly tell the chronological truth and I'm afraid that I tend to believe most of these reports.
First of all I believe that the incident at Roswell did happen and it had nothing at all to do with "Project Mogul" and any high altitude surveillance baloons or other similar devices.
Roswell I believe was the culmination of a catastophic accident involving two UFO's which were caught up in the middle of a violent electrical storm over New Mexico.
Because of the events that unfolded after this incident "first contact" came about. This involved certain high ranking citizens of the U.S.A. and representatives of TWO Alien Races.
The very first meeting occured on the evening of February 20th./21st. 1954 at Muroc Airfield, which is now known as Edwards Air Force Base.
The U.S.A. were represented by the following personnell;

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Light, Franklin Winthrop Allen, Charles L. Suggs, Edwin Nourse and Bishop James Francis MacIntyre. I believe that also present were members of the U.S. Military but their actual names and ranks remain anonymous to me.
The initial meeting was between the U.S. and a Race of people who we know of as ,"the Nordics". This Race, supposedly, come from Planets within the Pleiades and are extremely far advanced from us in all aspects. The U.S. wanted the "Nordics" to share their technology with us but the "Nordics" refused, stating that we were not sufficiently evolved to be able to comprehend or handle their technology. Because of this stalemate no agreement was reached and "first contact" was ended.
The story does not end there though. There was a second Alien Race, waiting in the wings so to speak, who were only too eager to step in. This Race we know of as the "Greys". They, supposedly, come from Planets within the Zeta Reticula system. The "Greys" could see no wrong in willingly sharing their technology, or at least certain aspects of it, with the U.S. and so an agreement was reached and from that day there has been an Alien presence here on Earth and the U.S. Government is hiding it from us all and part of that subterfuge is SETI.
The "Nordics" have been trying to warn us that the "Greys" are similar to a plague of locusts whose real intention is to strip our Planet of all its natural resources and to enslave those of us that they choose to keep alive.
The U.S., being the U.S., choose to ignore these warnings and are under the impression that they can rid the Earth of the "Greys" any time that they wish.
All the Alien Races that visit, or have visited, Earth are so far more advanced than us it would be like comparing Nethanderals with modern Man.
These are only my views and beliefs and I do not wish to change your own views or ideas. That decision is entirely up to you.
:smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin: :smokin:

Thing is Drifter how can you say that when you surpport the Disclosure project and all the wild outlandish claim's it's members make.....?

At least Seti is using Scientific method's and not takeing the word of some questionable people.....

Its stange that all these alien races have been surposedly visiting our planet according to the discolosure and other projects yet Seti hasn't found anything......

Is SETI worth it? You bet!
The radio telescope (directional radio antenna) was the forerunner of the science of Radio Astronomy, which gave us one of our first ‘glimpses’ into the workings of our Galaxy that Astronomy itself was unable to observe… I.e. the radiation (radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum ) being emitted by our own galaxy…

Who knows what a huge phased array will discover!? ~rore

Your comparing apples to oranges FEN.

Feel better now?

I never said to weaken its defense system. There's a large difference between weakening our defense and not overspending on unnecessary things. Yes, I know that we require most of our war technology, but ALL of it? No. We could afford to lower the bar an inch or two.

And what, please tell me, was the point of your question, "feel better now"?
Are you trying to say that being American you believe everything that your Government tells you about SETI and all the Military Bases that exist across your Country, both public and secret?
I suggest you go to;www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/QuotesPage and go through the Quotes Directory reading all the quotes by prominent individuals of high rank etc. Have your eyes and your mind opened my friend.
There is none so blind as them that will not see.
:smokin:

the moment we unplug the project is the precise moment in time when someone on the other end picks up the receiver...

"hello, hello?... must've been the wrong number... if its important they'll call back..."

interstellar phone tag.

It is worth it. It is the only scientific study aimed at ET. It is also privately funded, so you don't have to worry about your precious tax dollars going that way.
The new radar array they are currently building can also be used in countless other ways, not just for ET scanning.

I think it`s a good project. I would spend money on that before I would the Iraq war. If the government funded it maybe we would have found something by now.


I say crunch on setiers!

today it is not but tommorow it could be the greatest thing we done.

Fenstar the members of the Disclosure project and various other organisations are hardly 'questionable people'.
People that take the UFO subject seriously include highly prominent politicians,high ranking military officials,US Defense contractors and scientists/academics from such organisations as NORAD,NATO and NASA.
One could argue that if anyone was in a position to judge whether the subject has any validity(or not),it would be these folks.
Theres also some interesting authenticated UFO quotes underneath from people such as Mikhail Gorbachev,Prince Philip and various other prominent people.
As for life elsewhere,one look at the Hubble image underneath should settle that one -its interesting that we can only see two galaxies when we look up at the night sky so when scientists state there are vast numbers of them the odds become incomprehensibly minboggling.
Cheers Karl

It is not surprising that they have so far found nothing, you have to remember what is involved here. Even if you manage to point the thing at exactly the right place in the universe the odds are staggering.
Look at earth, we have had radio for how long? 60 years. To someone listening in space hoping to pick up our signals they would have to be withing 60 light years, now if or civilization dies tomorrow, we have a short burst of signal, 60 light years across, traveling through space like a single packet of information in the internet. If i said to you you have a 1 hour head start, run away from me in any direction and i wont look, after an hour i will fire 1 single shot of a gun in any single direction to try and hit you but i wont know which way you went, hell i would take those odds anyday. Andhere we might be looking for a burst of radio 50 or a 1000 light years across, that was sent from anytime from about 4 billion years ago till now, from any point in the universe. That is not good odds.
But is it worth it, in my opinion, you bet it is. You can't hear something if you are not listening. And the other technological developments that come along the way make it worth it.

You do not need to tell me things I have not heard before or know.

I made that comment because your post came across to me as being sarcastic.
If it was serious, then I appologize.