Seti@Home Financial Difficulties?

[Brucifer]

Heh, received a "begging" letter from the Seti@Home project today. Seems as UC isn't funding it to the degree they have in the past, and so now they are hitting the participants up for bucks. I wonder if this is a harbinger of bad times to come for them??? The first part deals with the user's previous crunching contributions to the project and then goes on about new antenna's, etc., and then continues as pasted below:::::

exerpted:

This increase in capability isn't without cost. Following the "dot com" bust, the commercial support that kept SETI@home running has largely disappeared. Because of this loss of support, we can no longer count on matching funds from the University of California. We are rapidly approaching the end of what funds we do have. We we will need to raise about $750,000 to pay for these new capabilities and to keep SETI@home operating for the next year. Without this support SETI@home may be forced to shut down.

We hope that you will consider making a donation to SETI@home. You can make a secure donation by credit card by clicking this link. Instructions for donation by check or money order are there as well. Unless you specify otherwise, your donation will be noted by a star icon next to your username on the SETI@home pages and your username will appear on our list of donors. If you do not wish to have this recognition you may indicate that as well. Please be assured that regardless of whether or not you choose to have your donation be anonymous, SETI@home will not share your address with other organizations.

You can check on our fundraising progress by visiting our main site at http://setiathome.berkeley.edu

Thank You,

Sir Arthur C. Clarke
Author and Futurist and Dan Werthimer
Chief Scientist, SETI@home

[AMD-USR_JL]

Looks like a lot of people are donating.
It took me awhile too find it, so here is the link to see the donation progress.
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/donation_history.php

They have had $6,000+ today with 108 people donating and an average of $58. So i guess this means they only need $744,00 now?

It seems to me,
that their might be,
no more search for E.T. :-(

[swhite4784]

to hell with seti anyway its a waist of time and cpu power.....unless we find aliens to fix the aids,climate,uifluids and ect....witch they probly can but the besides the point....down with seti!

[NeoGen]

They have had $6,000+ today with 108 people donating and an average of $58. So i guess this means they only need $744,00 now?

The total donations is right now at $25,314.96, but they need almost $750,000, so it's still a bit to go...

[Lagu]

Hi

It is strange they ask for a donation when we already donate all costs for electrical bill and components as are destroyed due to all hours we use our computers.

I didn´t like SETI. It is a imaginings project. There are no common sense.
It must be more important fighting cancer, malaria, alsehimer and so on than searc after live who not is there.

That project are a great joke :!:

If SETI fail, we hawe a lot of other project to chose among.

Lagu :cool:

[Brucifer]

Well I certainly don't wish them any ill will, but I can also think of several other places that could use the money too. And in that context I don't list seti as one of those "have to have" things in life. And there was that other little ole sentence in there that said "this year" in regards to the $750,000. Then there is next year, and the year after that...

However, each to their own as the saying goes. I think I'll pass on this and just keep contributing to the local Salvation Army instead. :)

[Steve Lux]

Yep, I stopped crunching for SETI also.

If we can't find intelligence here on earth, what makes us think we'll find it elsewhere?

I'd rather crunch for more useful purposes, including feeding my ego. A little friendly competition is in order... I'm pursuing the AMD Users' #1 spot for a single computer in Predictor@Home.

[AMDave]

Something just got me in the critical mindset this week.
I think, this thread is a time and spot to raise some questions.

I feel that the only good reason for scanning space is to make sure that nothing is about to slam into us and wreck the party. An ELE would not be a good day for any of us or our descendants.

It occurs to me (and many others I am sure) that assaying the oceans and echo probing the earth's crust and below might be far more realistic and rewarding studies.

With all the wasted resource that has gone into those elusive "alien" signals (do you think that they would ever tell you if they found them anyway???), we might have learned how to apply some understanding and possibly even prediction towards electrical storms, eruptions, tectonic movements, tidal waves, land slides, global ocean resource management and the like ... but mitigating the impact of natural disasters doesn't seem to be as popular an idea in this day and age :roll:

I hear over and over that the Earth's oceans are still an undiscovered frontier. WHY? :evil: Check out the cost benefit ratio! Space vs Ocean. Hmmm. Where do you want your Tax Dollar to go to tomorrow? Do you think that we should think about this the next time we vote? :cool:

I always look forward to seeing some interesting Marine Biology projects, but have been waiting ever so long. We have Google Earth and now even Google Mars...Where is Google Ocean perhaps and maybe Google Lava! Google Whale? Google Fish? ;)

When it comes down to it I'd rather Google my Dog :lol: and make sure that he's not out in the rain than I would commit any more wasted electricity to pretend to be looking for something that there is no evidence for (and never has been) whilst actually looking for hydrogen masses that are only going to matter to us some hundreds of years into the future - if in ELE doesn't nail us first. :twisted:
:D

What do you think ?

If something was to replace SETI@home, what would you like it to be?

Do you think that all the DC studies in progress benefit our futures and those of our children?

Do you think that you have or should have a say in what studies are done?

Are there any studies that you have questions or reservations about?

Do you have any other questions like these?

[drezha]

Good questions raised I think. :D

As soon as I got into DC'ing, it was SETI Classic. Quite soon after I found SETI BOINC. That had me hooked on BOINC (back in the day when it WORKED!!!)

Anyhow's...as soon as I found out there was more projects out there, I was more critical of SETI...

As soon as I found others, I joined them. (Maybe a bit hasty as I've joined nearly every BOINC project going at one time!) I never ran Maths projects either because they seemed to have no use. (Admittly I know run Resiel Seive but thats because I reckon it MAY have some use...certianly more than SETI)

Anyhow...the other BOINC projects (and DC projects) are a lot better IMHO...
Einstein and SETI IMHO are useless. But if people want to run them, thats fine. Though if they could only donate 5% of there SETI time to Predictor etc that would be ace :)

[Brucifer]

Good questions raised I think. :D

As soon as I found others, I joined them. (Maybe a bit hasty as I've joined nearly every BOINC project going at one time!) I never ran Maths projects either because they seemed to have no use. (Admittly I know run Resiel Seive but thats because I reckon it MAY have some use...certianly more than SETI)


I am not a math weenie, however I know enough math and science to know that mathematics is involved with just about everything in our world in one way or another. Every advance in math has impacts on many other fields of study or disciplines. So I don't put the math projects down as a waste at all... boring.... well ya! :)

[Brucifer]

Something just got me in the critical mindset this week.
I think, this thread is a time and spot to raise some questions.

What do you think ?
If something was to replace SETI@home, what would you like it to be?
Do you think that all the DC studies in progress benefit our futures and those of our children?
Do you think that you have or should have a say in what studies are done?
Are there any studies that you have questions or reservations about?
Do you have any other questions like these?

Lotta questions and thought here AMDave. I agree with you though that there are many better places to put the computing power. Right off the bat, unfortunately the almost boinc project for searching for things that may collide with good ole earth has much more relevance to reality than the seti thing. And unfortunately it has funding issues. I'd much rather see that funded or contribute to something like that than seti and their $750,000 request for *this* year. I would much rather see this project than seti.

IRT seti... it is my feeling that if something is out there, and has the ability to figure out how to move across the vast areas, that they are way ahead of us. In general I don't believe it would be in our best interests as a planet to make their acquaintance. No guarantees about them being on a higher plane or anything, or that they would care one iota about our existance. There is more likelihood that it would signal the end of our existance, just like we have ended the existance of more "backward" peoples when we have discovered their existance here on earth. And as you mention, it's really doubtful that anything would be gained from it in our lifetimes anyway.

But there are some bona-fide projects out there that are trying to impact our lives, whether science or medically related, they seek help and answers that are much more relevant to the existance of our lives and planet earth.

I firmly believe that if we (as a species) don't get a handle on things here in short order, it is all going to be moot anyway. We have surpassed the planet's ability to sustain humanity's continued existance. In the process we are killing the planet. Computers offer us an exceptional tool to try and make a difference, and those are the projects that I feel we need to support. I am much more concerned by the weather, global warming, diseases and like things than seti@home.

I guess about all I can really say in benefit of seti@home is that it was instrumental in waking up the world up to the wealth of idle computing power sitting around this planet in homes and businesses. Seti@home introduced the world to distributed computing allowing "common man" to make difinative contributions to substantial issues that the governments do not seem to have much interest in. In that regard seti has made a monumental contribution. But insofaras the relevance to important matters concerning life related issues in our near term existance (next couple hundred years or so), I think it's time to put seti out to pasture and move computing assets elsewhere.

[Majestic-12]

SETI@home are important because they brought concept of distributed computing to the masses - before only g33ks would run something like distributed.net (I used to do it), but with SETI@hme they managed to captivate imagination of "ordinary" people who would have never taken part in distributed computing otherwise, plus SETI lead to development of BOINC.

$750k a year is pretty high however, well, its peanuts for the Govt - it is rather sad to see that they are not financed by it :(

[Beerknurd]

dang... Someone donated $1200.00.... Now that's a person who believes in aliens....

[Lagu]

Hi

Are peoples desperate?

Lagu :roll:

[Steve Lux]

I've come under the conclusion that SETI is a luxury to be supported only when the world is involved in less important issues. Medical progress and the search for near earth objects are far higher on my priority list as having a far higher potential for impacting humanity in a realistic way.

Again concerning SETI and after a bit of thought; I hope to hell that we don't find evidence of anyone who is anything like us (and more technologically advanced). If we ever do then some brain stunted wiznut will do everything they can to let them know we're here, then our goose will be cooked. We got a damn good thing going here on this planet and we really have it made. If we advertize that fact we may lose everything. Consider what happened to the Indigenous American Indians and the Indigenous Austrailians. But for the grace of God and some luck on our part that could be our whole species. We can't communicate well or even defend ourselves from each other, much less some advanced race. If you think the earth will provide some Orwellian biological solution to any invader you missed the part about the "others" being advanced.

Naw, when it's available to my OS I'll contribute to the search for near earth objects. For now I'll crunch for medical research and soon for gravitational sources via Einstein. As other's have stated before SETI has served its purpose, but from a practical standpoint there are projects that are far more relevant to our humanity and may contribute to our understanding of both the micro and macro aspects of this universe we live in.

[drezha]

But for the grace of God

That was half the name for a Stargate Episode all about invaion of Earth I believe...full title name is There But for the grace of God....

Maybe I watch to much Stargate :D :lol:

And on googling...http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s1/119.shtml

Now I'm scared by your post... ;)

[Steve Lux]

Being scared is a waste of time, but we should try our best to be smart.

[Lagu]

Hi

As Majesties 12 and other are pointing out it is a fact SETI was the pioneering project as get the eyes up for many, many peoples around the world what Distributed Computing really dealt with.

To be honest that project was my first project ever as I joined. I read about it in a Swedish newspaper about year 1999 I guess. That time SETI use their first platform with the well-known screensaver as many remember.
I had just got my Intel Pentium II and began to crunch for them. I remember a WU took about 9 hours to be done. I ran this project without any interest for interracial searching. The only I found great was I earned points and that my computer could work all the time to help a serious project.

Lather I disappeared from this project because I not believe of their purpose. After my first experience I joined D2OL instead.

However, we all have cause to be grateful for our first experience and their stable client as never failed. A quality platform as we have very, very little of today. Today all projects are using Boinc and I think SETI´s first platform was GRID.

Lagu :)

[BlackAdder]

I for one would rather my computers power be used for cancer and aids research, something that would really benefit mankind ..... I like the idea of seti but I agree that if they really found something would they tell us??? I do firmly agree in intellegent life elsewhere but I'm not even sure seti is looking for them at the right frequencys and such. So for me I'll stay with the real scientific projects for now. :D

[Keith75]

I would have to agree that there are alot of other better uses for computer time than SETI, mainly searches for disease cures and genetic stuff. But do any of you really doubt that there are aliens out there? I am just as sure there are aliens out there as I am that I have two feet.....I hope I have two feet.....yep they are both there. :lol:

Keith

[outlawolf]

It seems alittle short sighted IMHO to so easily write off the scientific importance of the Seti@Home project. While it may seem that CPDN or Folding@Home have a more realistic and useful applications, to say that Seti@Home is not worth the CPU cycles or nessessary donations to continue its work is far from true. Seti is no longer the 'lone nut', out there pioneering a new way of performing scientific research, and so i dont stand on that as a reason it should continue. DC will go on without Seti.

The stated goal of Seti is to find 'alien' signals somewhere out there in the ether, but the real reason so many, including myself, run Seti is more about the dream that it represents than it achieving its goal.

To some this is the very reason why Seti is 'useless'. The cycles that it uses appear wasted next to cancer research, where the work can have tangible benefits. But by this same argument, projects like MJ-12, DIMES, and other DC projects, and by the same token other scientific research that don't deal with many of the more pressing problems of our day are equally irreleavent. Others, like BlackAdder above, worry that we simply wouldn't be told if they did find something, or as others might believe, we have already been contacted and aren't being told now. I don't expect to know the truth of this matter in my lifetime, and even if we did learn the facts on aliens before I die, there is little chance that it would impact the world in a meaningful way, at least not like a cure for AIDs or cancer might. I'm not discouraged by that idea though. Simply stated, every moment spent in search of the basic truths, be they math, biology, or physics, can and does bring us closer to answering the questions that drive humanity as a whole. To stop the search in any of these areas takes away from the whole of science. We have been studying AIDs and cancer for years now, and it may take many more years to find the answers we seek. If I where told that it was simply impossible for a cure for these diseases to be found in my lifetime, or even in 100 lifetimes, dispite the vast amount of work being done, it would not stop me for running Folding or Predictor, anymore than the same idea shall stop me from running Seti. The fact of the matter is that the truth about life in the universe will one day be (some would argue it already is) monumentally important and a driving force in the way humanity goes about it's business in the future.

People don't like to think the world will spin on as it always has without you or me, but it will. AIDs and cancer, they kill millions, parents, siblings, children... but ignorance, be it of aliens or electrons... now that can kill us all. This is why I will go on running Seti@Home and any other project that catches my eye, and why if I had $750K a year to give to the Seti boys, I would foot the bill myself.

EDIT: I dont post often, but when i do i always seem to have alot to say. My apologies for the length.

[drezha]

No need to apoligise on length. ;)

There's some good points there. What you say can be regarded as true. But the main reason DC is so good at the minute is free choice.

With so many projects out there now, the choice offered is great. (If not a little bewildering)

Though one project I'm waiting for is a fire project...As a trainee Fire an Explosion Engineer, I really want to run a fire modelling project or the ilk. :)

[NeoGen]

Project News March 20, 2006
We've made $100,000 so far during our first annual fundraising drive. Thank you for your help so far! Please help us reach our goal by contributing today.
Impressive amount, but I honestly don't think they'll reach the $750k they need...

[Brucifer]

Like you NeoGen, I'd be really surprised if they do also. And that's just this year. And they are also not helped by the fact that the last couple of years have seen really heavy needs placed on people that usually donate to these kinds of things.

The tsunami's, earthquakes, past hurricane season, and fires have consumed massive amounts of money. Things like the high gas prices have also consumed many people's disposible income, and now there is the latest event in Australia to contend with. Not to forget that we are quickly approaching the beginning of a new hurricane season for this year.

[Nflight]

The total numbers are now approaching $200,000 not bad for people still looking for ET.