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 by another more technologically advanced one it didn’t end well for the former. So I would prefer for us as species not to be surprised by another more advanced one. Second, establishing the existence of intelligent life outside of earth would help several causes that I believe in, such as advancing science, bringing nations closer together, human space travel. For a more varied perspective, see this discussion [thanks vruz] which does point out at least one possible counter-argument: by searching we will announce ourselves more to the universe and potentially attract predators in the first place.
The two-year operating budget for the antenna array is apparently $5 million. If this were a Kickstarter project, I would give $5,000 today. I believe that this is a perfect example of humans underspending on long-tail species risk.
