SETI

[tinhuviel]

If ET wants to talk to us, he'll have to come for a visit during this recession. How depressing...

The SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array has been forced offline due to lack of funding, essentially crippling the organization's hunt for extraterrestrial communications.

Comments

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

Bummer.

Oddly enough, I was looking at various pages related to the Fermi Paradox and other SETI-related issues recently...

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

That's strange. I know of a lot of people who are turning their eyes to the skies right now at the same time and independently of various xtians who think that the rapture will happen on 5-21. Go figure.

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

I was just wikidiving... came there via Greg Bear > Forge of God or something like that...

I had no idea that some are expecting the Rapture on 5/21. I will be doing ritual that evening, but not something that rapture-oriented Xtians would like at all. ;-)

Hopefully, we won't get a Berserker probe as our First Contact...

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

Heh...I'm kind of hoping we will. The majority of our species have earned a berserker probe, don'tcha think?

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

Nope. I don't think the douchebaggery of many (though not most) of our species means we can write the entire lot off.

And anyway, a berserker probe would probably choose some drastic method like a dino-killer asteroid. Don't want Gaia to take a hit like that.

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

She's dealt with deep impact before, so I have no doubt She could survive and thrive after another meteor disaster. Who knows? Perhaps such an impact is what triggered life on Earth.

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I like the ecosphere we have right now. With all its problems, I don't think mercy killing is the right approach.

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

What do you have in mind, then?

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

I don't pretend to have the answers, but complex problems that have developed over a long time require complex solutions applied over a long time.

Personally, I find areas where I feel I can make a difference (esp. areas like bat conservation where I also have a spiritual connection), and do what I can.