Here’s a link to the news that SETI is shutting down (at least for the time being) due to lack of funding. Had it not been for the federal government dogged pursuit of throwing money down rat holes, SETI would have been long defunct in the world of private industry, where the rule of thumb is “put up or shut up [or shut down].” But wait a minute . . . Paul Allen funds this as well. I guess he awoke from a venture capitalist trance (think Dilbert here) and now grasps the obvious: SETI has produced absolutely nothing in the way of its stated mission. A nice idea initially, but its turned into a science entitlement program.
SETI Suspending Its Work
Mike, I’m probably just behind as usual, but this GCF 2011 event… in short, what’s up with that? You may have blogged here about it, I’ll have to go back through archives and check. I’m just coming across it so I’ve got some videos to look at like Michio Kaku’s interesting speech. http://www.youtube.com/gcfchannel#p/u/97/7lP9eTSVWlM . I *thought* I heard him say SETI had received an infusion of funds… I may have misunderstood and this was apparently a few months ago so maybe things fizzled out. Or maybe they made it a black project, hehe. Nonetheless, sure a lot of “get ready, we might meet some space brothers soon” talk, at least from Kaku, though he’s talked along those lines for some time now. I’m very curious to hear what Pope, Friedman and Vallee said at this forum. I certainly don’t know the scope of the audience for the forum, but in addition to any other comments you may have, have you seen anything you would describe as a “ramping up” of alien contact talk in the popular culture? I’m seriously not trying to get apocalyptic, just checking in on things since you’re more attuned to a lot of the happenings in these areas.
This is the latest report I’ve seen.