"Joseph Lazio" <jlazio@adams.patriot.net> wrote in message
news:llzn8kc75z.fsf_-_@adams.patriot.net...

[This is a more general criticism that I thought I'd

single out.]

"R" == Rich  <someone@somewhere.com> writes:

R> In infinite wisdom Joseph Lazio answered:

Perhaps more important, given that we all agree that we

do not know

how many radio transmitting ET civilizations there are

in the

Galaxy, why do you object to trying to find out?

R> There are some pressing problems right here right now

on earth. I

R> think we need to prioritize how we use the resources we

have.

I certainly won't argue with the need to set priorities,

but I don't

think you've made a very coherent argument against SETI on

these

grounds.

It's not clear if you object to just to SETI or to all of

astronomy.

Let me answer both briefly.  First, every 10 years,

astronomers in the

US produce what is known as the "decadal report."  This

report

establishes (broad) priorities for (US) astronomy for the

next decade.

These priorities include money.  (The decadal report

doesn't provide

any money, but its support is crucial if one wants to

obtain

significant monetary support.)  In both 1980 and 1990,

SETI programs

were recognized as being worthy of "modest" support.  I

can't remember

what the recommendation was in 2000, because the major

SETI effort has

shifted to become largely privately-financed.  However, I

think more

general astrobiological themes (is there life, complex or

pond-scum,

elsewhere in the Universe) were still present.

More generally, I think that astronomy enjoys broad public

support

(witness the recent furor over the Hubble Space

Telescope), it doesn't

cost all that much, and it returns a lot for the money

spent on it.

It's been a few years, but I once tried to do a rough

guess of how

much money is spent by the US Government on astronomy.

Using a fairly

expansive definition of "astronomy," I estimated something

like $2

billion or about 0.2% of the total budget.  You don't say

what other

priorities are more worthwhile, but is that enough to

eliminate

poverty, pollution, disease, ...?  Moreover, some of that

money goes

into training students, some of whom then go off and do

other things.

I have colleagues from grad. school who are now or until

recently

working in the defense, financial, computer, and

telecommunications

industries.  Is the US worse off for having paid for their

graduate

educations?  (I should point out that, in speaking to my

international

colleagues, in many nations astronomy is seen as a vehicle

to improve

technology and train students.)

Finally, I'll ask the more philosophical question, if a

nation as

wealthy as the US cannot afford to spend a small amount of

money

addressing and answering(!) fundamental questions that

humans have

asked for millennia, doesn't it seem like an awfully poor

place?

Bravo! This is an argument that comes up time and time again
in various areas--it was a big one several decades ago when
the large budget for the manned space program and moon
voyage were in contention.

Then, and today, the main arguments "pro" are [1] the fact
that many high tech development programs and devices with
untold down-to-Earth uses derive from such challenges, and
[2] (as in mountain climbing,) "just because it's there."
The last, of course is simply an expression of the fact
that, it is an essential "human thing" we _do_.

A similar question that bugs me, is the similar one for the
arts. There are those that decry the spending of any amount
of money (even in "good" times) on the arts, or cultural
endeavors of any
kind, because that is not the province of government.

Well, one need only go back to the Golden Age of Greece to
dispute that argument also--the people/governments of that
ancient region supported not only the technical sciences,
but the arts as well...and many people claim today that that
time and place became the cradle of civilization, one that
reflected the essence of the deepest and noblest aspirations
of humankind. Are
we any less today?                 ...tonyC

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