Russian Entrepreneur Pledges $100 Million in Search for Extraterrestrial Life

.Entrepreneur ^ | July 20, 2015 | Nina Zipkin

[lbryce]

Is there anyone else out there in the universe? The endeavor to answer that eternal question got a serious shot in the arm this week thanks to Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner. At the Royal Society in London, the billionaire announced the launch of Breakthrough Listen, a 10-year, $100 million initiative to search for signs of extraterrestrial life.

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Aided by the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in W. Va., the CSIRO Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia and the Lick Telescope in at the Lick Observatory in Calif., the scientists will explore 1 million of the closest stars to earth and the 100 nearest galaxies after the Milky Way. All of the information the researchers find will be open source. The project is the largest of its kind (looking at 10 times more of the sky and five times more of the radio spectrum than any past program) and is backed by Stephen Hawking.

[lbryce]

The project is the largest of its kind (looking at 10 times more of the sky and five times more of the radio spectrum than any past program) and is backed by Stephen Hawking.

First of all, we're supposed to be impressed with the 10 times increase in searching area but when you're dealing with what is out there it really provides no additional chance against the backdrop of the vastness of space.

Secondly, they don't describe what constitutes Extraterrestrial life.

This project seems to me to be one in which there's one guy with too much money. There's no question in my mind that the money spent will end up being poured down into some wormhole.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I think what would happen is eventually alien life will be found, and the aliens will come and visit us after liberals tell them to sneak in through the southern border and surprise us all. But then liberals would start calling these aliens racist and homophobic and the aliens would kill us all. You know, it will be like the 5 note song from the Close encounters of the 3rd kind movie...do do do do- do...then there would be like an added code at the end that says “..and you’re racist” and it would repeat faster and faster until they blew us all up. “do do do do- do and you’re racist do do do do- do and you’re racist do do do do- do and you’re racist do do do do- do and you’re racist dodododo- doandyou’reracist”

[Peter ODonnell]

Why the heck are we trying to alert alien life forms to our presence here? Is our own history not enough of an object lesson in why this is not a very smart idea?

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

What’s interesting is a few years ago Hawkings said we shouldn’t look for ETs because life as we have seen on earth is violent and if ET intelligent life discovers us and is able to get here it won’t be pretty.

[JoeProBono]

[Mount Athos]

they eat us like we eat chicken

[lbryce]

I see that like myself you’re a Star Trek fan.(The Wrath of Khan) :-)

[lbryce]

I see that like myself you’re a Star Trek fan.(The Wrath of Khan) :-)

[Nowhere Man]

Robert C. Byrd radio telescope? I swear everything in West Virginia is named after him or his wife. I drive Rt. 22 towards Pittsburgh everyday and it is called the Robert C. Byrd Highway.

[Ken H]

Robert C. Byrd radio telescope? I swear everything in West Virginia is named after him or his wife. I drive Rt. 22 towards Pittsburgh everyday and it is called the Robert C. Byrd Highway.

You mean Robert 'Sheets' Byrd, the Klansman? Those names ought to be changed because of his racist past.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

I can save Yuri a lot of money. If you want to find “extraterrestrial life”, give me $60 for the next Star Trek Convention and a couple hundred more for the Democratic National Convention.

The ETs at the SciFi conventions are friendlies; those at the DNC are hostile, illegal aliens who are bent on the Marxian (er, Martian) conquest of America.

Just look for those with Hillary, Kerry and Sanders buttons, a glazed over look like an automaton, and a doobie in their bags. Oh, also look for the RED PLANET pins they were, with a Hammer & Sickle imposed over a color image of Mars. Tin foil hats are another sign of the evil ETs.

Don’t look to the skies. Look at the Democrats!

[SkyDancer]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks lbryce.

• Search for extraterrestrial intelligence gets a $100-million boost
• A $100 Million Infusion for SETI Research (two parts: Breakthrough Listen and Breakthrough MESSAGE)
• Stephen Hawking announces $100 million hunt for alien life

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