On Monday, famed physicist Stephen Hawking and Russian tycoon Yuri Milner held a news conference in London to announce their new project: injecting $100 million and a whole lot of brain power into the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life, an endeavor they're calling Breakthrough Listen.
"We believe that life arose spontaneously on Earth," Hawking said at Monday's news conference, "So in an infinite universe, there must be other occurrences of life."
Okay while the skeptic inside of me wonders if this one hundred million would not be better spent on education, or feeding the poor, or fighting climate change the twelve year old boy inside of me has a prepubescent chubby at the very thought of discovering life out in space.
I don't think I mention it very often, but on my bucket list is to be around long enough to witness the discovery of life on other planets.
It seems more than logical that it must exist, so all we have to do is locate a few space amoebas and I can die a happy man. (Well actually it will take a bit more to die completely happy but trust me you don't want to hear about that.)
I could save them all that money - just bring some TV cameras, and go interview Dumbass Trump or Caribou Barbie.
ReplyDeleteHow do we know they aren't aliens life forms inside a human form sent here to torment the human race?
My thoughts exactly! Maybe Trump and Palin were sent to drive us all bonkers.
DeleteBeaglemom
If we stop spending so much on making weapons and war, we could fund a hundred projects like this.
ReplyDeleteThe technology is always improving. I think within the next 50-100 years we will find a planet, probably hundreds of light years away, that undoubtedly has intelligent life.
That will be the most profound moment in history. I believe we will use our resources and money for good and look for ways to travel to or communicate with this planet.
It will also throw the worlds religions in chaos. Added bonus. LOL.
"I believe we will use our resources and money for good ..."
DeleteSorry, but no. The very rich, i.e. the Kochs, et al, will rapidly expand their insidious reach in order to exploit anything others might find. They do not have good intentions, not at all.
And not to be forgotten, some will have a never-ending need to convert them to Christianity -- for their own good, of course.
I hear you Balzafiar. But part of me is always hopeful that humanity's better nature will prevail.
DeleteI was born after we stopped going to the moon and have never experienced an awe-inspired moment like landing on the moon and the way the works rallied behind it. I would like very much to be part of something like that
Am I being naive? Probably. But I believe in hope (which is why Barack Obama was the first time I actually voted in an election)
Donald Trump will beat that $100 million Dollars but he'll be looking for Mexican illegal Aliens and possibly a lawnmower for his "hair"
ReplyDeleteAnd which country will be the first to invade the new planet to kill or enslave its inhabitants and plunder its natural resources?
ReplyDeleteSpare me.
Yes. I can see that happening.
DeletePart of me thinks that we better hope intelligent life does NOT find us. There would be a certain amount of poetic justice in a scenario where space aliens treat us and our planet much like how Native Americans were treated after Europeans discovered America
I think this money and effort would be better spent trying to mitigate the effects of global warming. Otherwise this planet will no longer support human life.
ReplyDeleteIt's their money. They can spend it any way they want.
DeleteDid I say they couldn't? This is called a comment section. I made a comment
DeleteWhy do you want to pick a fight?
I dunno... maybe they oughtta watch Mars Attacks first.
ReplyDeleteI could just see the Christian missionaries trying to go there and convert them, and when that doesn't work invade and try to conquer them under the guise of protecting our freedom.....ironically, though there is far more evidence of intelligent life, the belief in the supernatural is to be revered and respected while a belief in an alternate universe can be grounds for being institutionalized.
ReplyDeleteMarklar! South Park reference for this very scenario.
DeleteWe all are descendants of extraterrestrial life. The invasive parasitic species which planted our flag first. I say build a landing pad and wait for the latecomers to discover us. Then charge them a visitors' tax!
ReplyDelete808
Why put the onus on Hawking and Milner to fund climate research? Why not the Kochs, Trump, the Saudis, America or any number of countries, think tanks, or investors?
ReplyDeleteThere is no global interest yet because no crisis has substantially impacted industries that contribute to the problem.
Any of the rich and powerful been impacted by drought, wildfires, rising oceans, and whatever else is beginning to occur? No. Nor will they be. It's going to get a lot worse before any serious efforts to mitigate change occur.
M father was an electrical engineer. He worked for nine years on the original Apollo 11 moon mission---my childhood was consumed with NASA and his other scientific interests.
ReplyDeleteI remember so vividly hearing the words "The Eagle has landed," and all of the family bursting into tears. The splashdown upon return to Earth was almost more of an incredible moment.
So many, many technological discoveries have come out of the space programs. Funding public relief projects is of vast importance, but funding knowledge is IMO of equal importance! (One--of many--reasons I have absolutely no patience for the tea party and their "librul elite" crap.)
Right there with you, 6:57.
DeleteWe must fund the pursuit of knowledge.
We must clean up "here" but also reach out "there."
When I was in high school, I had a teacher who told us that all if the crazy people and all if the disabled people on earth were sent here as rejects from another planet! We always wondered what planet sent her! :-)
ReplyDeleteDo you live in Alaska, or Texas?
Deletehttp://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu
ReplyDeleteYou can help SETI at home by letting your computer crunch data in the background. We have a computer that just sits in a room and is used only for backing up our many other devices and we've run SETI 24/7 on it for over 14 years. You can even do this on a computer that you use for other things as it doesn't take much bandwidth. I urge anyone to help SETI by enrolling in this program. The more that engage to process the data the more likelihood that we will find another "WOW" moment.
I've had SETI at home on my computer for years. It's a nice little day dream that I'll go down in history as helping discover alien life :-)
DeleteAs much as I like aliens, and Hawking, (who may be an alien, for that matter,) $100 mil can be spent in much, much better ways. Poor, starving people, for instance, need food. Sick, dying people need medicine. Women need schools. The list goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather the money go to something like this than frivolous things like sports stadiums, wars, guns, etc. etc. I hope there's some intelligent life in the universe, what's been passing for "intelligence" here just doesn't quite cut it.
ReplyDeleteBUT we need the money here, I saw a report on BBC that estimated we could LOSE all species of fish because of the rise in ocean temperature and a rise in acidity combined with other factors. Then there's a long bucket list of social causes that desperately need addressing. And time isn't on our side. .
It isn't enough.
ReplyDeleteBut I hope they find something before Hawking dies.
It's ironic that there are back-to-back posts about Hawking and Dawkins. Remember several months ago when, in the middle of a Sarah Palin rant about Dawkins and abortion, she wrote that Trig wouldn't make fun of how Dawkins looked? She was obviously confusing Dawkins and Hawking.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom