Basically, Oracle33, welcome to the SDMB. You’ll have fun, maybe learn something, and maybe teach us something. And good tinfoil comeback! You’ll fit right in.
But aluminum should work better than tin when blocking thoughtwaves. Maybe the Illuminati* is using some kind of super-nano thoughtwaves! :eek:
I have seen the fnords.
I’d say that organizations like SETI and NASA are being neglected is because were entering a cultural contraction phase, a phase of shortsighted counterproductive pragmatism, where monies need to be spent on FIGHTIN THE ENEMY, like the war on drugs, which is a true blackhole in the economy and ripping to shreds any kind of civic cohesion - cant spend monies on frivolous things like exploring the universe and expanding scientific knowledge. Its dumb, but lets face it, American society has stuck its head up its ass. Hopefully private entrepreneurs will rally peoples imaginations and pocketbooks, although this raises other issues of the ownership and involvement in exploration, something that at least felt diffused when undertaken as a national project…but whatever, any Spaceport in a storm.
As for all the zombie apocalypse stuff…well, I think the government knows something, I hope they have a contingency plan and don’t shutdown due to partisan squabbling. Braaaaainz.
With the gravest regret, I have to agree. One of the ugly lessons of WWII and the Cold War is that scientific progress is often driven by military needs. We got rocketry and nuclear power from WWII, and weather satellites and GPS satellites from the Cold War.
Now, in an era when war is less and less palatable to the people, the engines of scientific discovery are also slowing for want of fuel. It’s horrid, but it’s human nature.
Not sure how true that is, but if it is, it seems like a fine trade-off to me.
And “GPS” is an engineering accomplishment, not a scientific one.
Teenage mutant shark vampires.
No, wait. Teenage zombie shark vampires.
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
yeah, a whole *shitload *of people both in the government and Hollywood know about some major approaching cataclysm, and have managed to hush it up so far.
Isn’t engineering applied science?
The engineering/science debate is an old one, and a very stubborn one. If you think pro-life/pro-choice debates are subject to impasses borne of conflicting underlying beliefs, you should just hear an engineer and a scientist talking about “knowledge.”
So funny it’s sad, so sad it’s funny.
“You only deal with your limited abstract models; I have to deal with reality!”
The nausea never stops…
It is not only in our visual and printed media, it is everywhere.
Electronic communication (internet, youtube, FB, twitter, you name it) has condensed 7g relatively isolated “individuals” into a near critical mass of consciousness in a few short years. It’s the second coming of the Big Bang.
There are two ways in which this quickening can be perceived: fear or awe. The fearful ones seek to protect themselves wrapped in conspiracy theories and tinfoil. Those with love in their hearts open themselves to the INEVITABLE and are joining the party.
Relax and enjoy the ride. 
Aloha
These guys had it down. Grateful Dead - Hell In A Bucket (Official Music Video) - YouTube 
We’ve had three or four people swing through here now more or less on board with the OP, and I’m still waiting for an answer to this.
Hookers and blow. You want to raise enough cash for the aforementioned and you do that by selling shit to the doomers. 
Let me guess: you’re using the shiny side out. It’s dull-side out! Rookie mistake.
And yes. Hollywood and the government are in bed together… To make money!
Yes. All of technology is.
Including technology arrived by blind trial and error. Which is natural selection at work; basically brute forcing science, whether realized or not.
Aww - come on - Buffy was cute.
What proportion of the population of the uSA believe that X Files is/was true?
The fucking hell?! I was told it’d be a sharkquake.
I quit.