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It's not being done because anyone thinks its economically viable. And anyway it's being paid for by private donors, not the US government.

dkersten 9y ago
If some action is a waste of resources, then who provides the resources doesn't change whether it's a waste or not. In this case, if sending a signal into space takes a lot of energy and if energy is scarce, then it's a waste of energy regardless of if the government provides it or a private donor. EDIT: I'm not saying this is true in this particular case (I'm also not saying that its not true), I'm merely stating that whether something is a waste doesn't matter on who is doing the wasting. I would gladly listen to a counter argument and maybe a discussion can be had, but I guess its easier to click a down arrow. Oh well. (Yes, yes, I know it'll happen even more due to my mentioning it)
- andyjohnson0 9y ago
  The Arecibo message had a broadcast power about a 1 megawatt and lasted 3 minutes [1] - in other words 0.05MWh. 1MWh can power 330 homes for one hour [2], so the broadcast "wasted" enough power to supply those homes for three minutes. Given that interstellar broadcasts aren't exactly frequent events, and assuming similar broadcast power/length today, then on a global scale it doesn't seem like a significant waste of power to me. [1] http://io9.gizmodo.com/5784658/so-you-want-to-send-a-message-into-space-heres-how http://io9.gizmodo.com/5784658/so-you-want-to-send-a-message... [2] http://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-resources/what-is-a-megawatt-and-a-megawatt-hour/ http://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-resources/w...
  - dkersten 9y ago
    I never claimed that this particular thing wasteful. I was only pointing out that "And anyway it's being paid for by private donors, not the US government." isn't a good counter argument. I wasn't taking any sides on this issue, so its not really relevant how much energy it took. I said "if" it is and it was a hypothetical to give a concrete example, not a statement that I thought it was wasteful. I'll paraphrase: If <something> is hypothetically wasteful, then <something> is still wasteful regardless of who did it.

dkersten 9y ago

If some action is a waste of resources, then who provides the resources doesn't change whether it's a waste or not. In this case, if sending a signal into space takes a lot of energy and if energy is scarce, then it's a waste of energy regardless of if the government provides it or a private donor. EDIT: I'm not saying this is true in this particular case (I'm also not saying that its not true), I'm merely stating that whether something is a waste doesn't matter on who is doing the wasting. I would gladly listen to a counter argument and maybe a discussion can be had, but I guess its easier to click a down arrow. Oh well. (Yes, yes, I know it'll happen even more due to my mentioning it)

andyjohnson0 9y ago
The Arecibo message had a broadcast power about a 1 megawatt and lasted 3 minutes [1] - in other words 0.05MWh. 1MWh can power 330 homes for one hour [2], so the broadcast "wasted" enough power to supply those homes for three minutes. Given that interstellar broadcasts aren't exactly frequent events, and assuming similar broadcast power/length today, then on a global scale it doesn't seem like a significant waste of power to me. [1] http://io9.gizmodo.com/5784658/so-you-want-to-send-a-message-into-space-heres-how http://io9.gizmodo.com/5784658/so-you-want-to-send-a-message... [2] http://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-resources/what-is-a-megawatt-and-a-megawatt-hour/ http://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-resources/w...
- dkersten 9y ago
  I never claimed that this particular thing wasteful. I was only pointing out that "And anyway it's being paid for by private donors, not the US government." isn't a good counter argument. I wasn't taking any sides on this issue, so its not really relevant how much energy it took. I said "if" it is and it was a hypothetical to give a concrete example, not a statement that I thought it was wasteful. I'll paraphrase: If <something> is hypothetically wasteful, then <something> is still wasteful regardless of who did it.