SETI shut down due to lack of funding

[CalMeacham]

The SETI institute has hibernated its Allen Telescope Array, which scans the sky for clues on extraterrestrial life, due to lack of funding. The telescope array, which consists of 42 20-foot-wide telescopes spread across a field 300 miles north of San Francisco, was originally funded largely by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who donated $25 million to the project. However, state budget cuts have all but halted the project, which will for the time being be unavailable for normal use and run by a significantly reduced staff.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20110427/tc_mashable/seti_shuts_down_search_for_alien_life_due_to_lack_of_funding_1

1.) What do “state budgets” have to do with this? Are they getting a lot of funding through the state?

2.) if only those ETs had donated more, we’d have found them by now!

[Mr.Excellent]

Shame, I suppose - my understanding is that the radio telescope was used for more conventional science as well as SETI. However, I would point out that the odds of finding intelligent life on other worlds were very, very slim in any event - it’s not as if we’ve given up much here on that front.

[Athena]

Don’t they realize that this is just the move the aliens were waiting for?

[drastic_quench]

@Athena

Don’t they realize that this is just the move the aliens were waiting for?

They’ve been holding their farts for decades!

[Inigo_Montoya]

I have to wonder if an ET civilization didn’t have a similar gizmo set up but had to kill it for lack of funding around our year 1910 or so. And if somewhere out there, some budding ET civilization is experimenting with their new radio technology. (The above scenarios are adjusted for travel time of the relevant signals).

Missed 'em by that much.

[UncleRojelio]

As much as I believe that there is nothing out there for them to hear, it’s still a bit of a shame.

[johnpost]

if they would have picked up episodes of ‘i love Kodos’ they would be getting plenty funding now.

[JohnT]

@Inigo_Montoya

I have to wonder if an ET civilization didn’t have a similar gizmo set up but had to kill it for lack of funding around our year 1910 or so. And if somewhere out there, some budding ET civilization is experimenting with their new radio technology. (The above scenarios are adjusted for travel time of the relevant signals).

Missed 'em by that much.

I remember a short story about that… two SETI-searching civilizations facing collapse (one by environmental catastrophe, the other facing imminent nuclear war), with the solution to the problem having been found by the other civ (i.e., the one collapsing 'cause of the environment has the solution to avoid nuclear war). Because of funding issues (IIRC), both programs were shut down just prior to them making contact with each other.

[UncleRojelio]

@JohnT

I remember a short story about that… two SETI-searching civilizations facing collapse (one by environmental catastrophe, the other facing imminent nuclear war), with the solution to the problem having been found by the other civ (i.e., the one collapsing 'cause of the environment has the solution to avoid nuclear war). Because of funding issues (IIRC), both programs were shut down just prior to them making contact with each other.

If you can imagine it, it’s probably already happened in the Universe, multiple times. If it weren’t for those durned vast distances …

[Morgyn]

This makes me sad.

[gotpasswords]

It’s worth noting that this does not affect the SETI @ Home project.

[levdrakon]

Kinda sad, kinda not. I’d like to see a SETI program(s) continue, but it kinda seemed the tiny bit of the surrounding universe they were searching, the way they were searching it, didn’t have much chance of finding something even if it were there.

[davidm]

@gotpasswords

It’s worth noting that this does not affect the SETI @ Home project.

That’s good to know. I’ve been running that software since before BOINC.