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If you were given $200M and SETI's goal, what would you be investing in?
by macksd 3y ago
If you were given $200M and SETI's goal, what would you be investing in?
- sandworm101 3y agoShort laser pulse detection. So-called "close" SETI looking for emitters in our outer solar system.
- harveywi 3y agoThe real problem with previous efforts for finding extraterrestrial life wasn't the technology, it was the lack of competition plus the open ended and uncertain goal. A seed rounds of $50M should be given out to two groups of competing researchers: One group tries to find evidence of extraterrestrial life, and the other group tries to find evidence of the abominable snowman in the Tibetan mountain ranges. The first group to make a discovery takes home the remaining $100M and settles the SETI vs. Yeti debate once and for all.
- rvba 3y agoI would invest it in projects that kill ACTIVE SETI, because active is incredibly dangerous from rational standpoint.
- jayGlow 3y agowhy is it dangerous? Even the closest star is years away at the speed of light hostilities at that distance seem impractical.
- rvba 3y agoFamous last words. From rational point of view (history of Indians, general history) and philosophical point of view (great filter) it is safer to keep quiet. A lot of scientists got killed by their own inventions. And active Seti should be banned since very few can bring doom on others - without even asking them if they agree for that. Did anyone from the active seti community ask for consent? Nope. They know most people would be against it. UN and governments should be too. Although if they were some assholes would start doing it just in spite.
- disconcision 3y agoare they famous last words? are there specific examples of indigenous people that were decimated due to actively seeking out contact? (genuinely asking, not super familiar with the history here, though i'm under the vague impression that most contact has not been active in this sense)
- Gooblebrai 3y agoI suggest you read about the Dark Forest theory: “The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox.”
- SoftTalker 3y agoThe much more likely expanation of the Fermi Paradox is that even if intelligent life is fairly common, the universe is so big (and expanding exponentially), that there simply is no way for these populations to notice each other much less visit each other.
- thegabriele 3y agoNeutrinos detection
- 0xf00ff00f 3y agoSomeone read "His Master's Voice"...
- dekhn 3y agoA standardized robotic platform for automated solar system image collection- high resolution images of every single surface in the solar system. They would operate and report back any unexpected features over the next 100 years.
- SoftTalker 3y agoIt seems highly unlikely there's any other intelligent life in the solar system?