The news is all over the Internet - SETI is shutting down ATA (Allen Telescope Array) due to lack of funding.
I know at least one great (dead) person that would be really upset because of this - Carl Sagan.
I happen to liked the idea and while some other (great) men (you know I am talking about you, Hawking!) are warning us to stop looking for trouble, I still think it is right inside your genes to be adventurous and look for the answers. Spirituality and religion did not bring it up, so maybe the ETI would? But first we need to find at least a single tiny minuscule proof of its existence. And maybe then we all can realize our real place in the vastness of the cosmos, our insignificance and awe in admiration to the miracles of the universe. And yet we have not succeeded in it. Instead mostly we are worried about the rising of the food prices and gas prices and all sort of other prices.
They need 5 million US dollars. This is not even half the price of the house of some asshole actor in some shitty production designed to distract us for less than two hours. And yet we prefer the distraction. Sometimes I think even such finding as proofs of extra-terrestrial intelligence will not be sufficient to unite us.
Still the solace remains that thanks to the technological and scientific advancements we get to live twice as long as our great great great parents. Maybe we will use this time wisely and start thinking more about other things, other than the rising prices....
