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comment by mk
mk  ·  4772 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Light of Alien Cities
Yeah. You would think that given our rate of development, we might be a bit more adventurous with our extrapolations. Then again, a large contingent of us believe that this entire universe was created for us.

One thing that really excites me about SETI are the possible surprises that await us. If we are lucky enough to detect other intelligence out there, I am certain that we will have to do some serious reassessing of our current situation.

That's why even though this hypothesis seems misguided, I am all for collecting more information on extra-solar systems and planets. Every bit of data is a clue, and we'll probably find valuable information where we didn't expect it. Even the lack of a signal is good data.





kleinbl00  ·  4772 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I wouldn't mind seeing the whole thing re-assessed from a non-idiotic point of view. The fact that the foundation for SETI is the Drake Equation robs them of credibility in my opinion.
mk  ·  4772 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Yes, I always thought the Drake equation was pretty much worthless.

It is interesting that SETI just looks at the hydrogen line frequency. At least they did last time I checked. http://www.setileague.org/askdr/hydrogen.htm But IMO the reasoning for that is a bit better than city lights.

kleinbl00  ·  4772 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Well that was a fucking wormhole. From hydrogen emission lines to the Wow! signal to pulsars mistaken for SETI contacts to a Joy division album and then back to refresh myself on the Kardashev scale.