I found out yesterday that due to a lack of funding the SETI Institute has pulled the plug on operating the Allen Antenna Array. Given the recent discovery of potentially habitable planets, the timing of this couldn’t be worse. Just as our view is coming around to there being a higher likelihood of intelligent life elsewhere, we stop looking for it. Why look in the first place? I believe there are two compelling arguments. First, in the history of Earth whenever a civilization was surprised b...

I found out yesterday that due to a lack of funding the SETI Institute has pulled the plug on operating the Allen Antenna Array. Given the recent discovery of potentially habitable planets, the timing of this couldn’t be worse. Just as our view is coming around to there being a higher likelihood of intelligent life elsewhere, we stop looking for it. Why look in the first place? I believe there are two compelling arguments. First, in the history of Earth whenever a civilization was surprised b...