I cannot disagree with this without proof and the people seeking the proof are the ones justifying their own grant money. What I can point out, hopefully without insult, is that this represent 2D and a bit of 3D thinking where SETI is based on a 4D hypothesis. That hypothesis being that there are enough habitable planets that life is inevitable and that among the inevitable life intelligence occurs and among the intelligence dry land and the discovery and use of electricity become prevalent enough that communications between members of that intelligent life are broadcast at a high enough power level that it is discernible against the backdrop of stars around which the habitable planets rotates (the 4D part) and that broadcasting occurs during the time of the civilization that the light years separating us from them are equal to that portion of their civilization development that coincides with our capability to receive the signal. Or to simplify, it could have happened miltiple times on multiple planets in the last million years but no one here could hear it.
This is, at best, a megamillion lottery dream. The odds are deeply deeply against detection in our lifetimes. The problem with the lottery is that people do win it. No matter how high the odds against, if millions and millions try multiple random rumbers mulitple times, data points eventually concur and there's a winner.
Unfortunately, in spite of high and low popularity, SETI does not have millions and millions of people randomly checking all space in all directions. It does have millions checking the data from the sections of space they can borrow time to look at (a whole separate set of issues now that we don't think in terms of just giant megawatt AM/FM broadcasts) but it the same as 50 or a 100 people trying to win the lottery.
So, I agree with you on the remoteness of the possibility of discovery this way and the off chance there are people only justifying their grants, (dragging back to the subject at hand) but as this article indicates, there are worse things to spend money on in this world.
Since Quantum Physics post was pulled, and my subsequent post was pulled because of it, I feel obligated to explain "dimensions" again.
You seem to cherish the notion that, "dimension", is a philosophical term, rather than its "definition #1", which is entirely in the physical realm.
The four physical dimensions are as follows width, height, depth...., and (wait for it)....time.! And please do keep in mind that I've taken at least an elective course in Astronomy, in which the instructor emphasized stellar physics.
I have no doubt that intelligent life exists, (or has existed) elsewhere in in the universe(s?). But the odds of intercepting communications from them, it, or what, are quite a lot more, "astronomical", than you believe. In fact, just as a silly guess on my part, I'd say they are more like the odds of one person winning every "Mega Millions Jackpot" ever offered, with a mere dollar bet in each.
Given that many empires on earth have emerged and then returned to sand, the same is likely true across the vastness of space. Radio communications have emerged on earth in only the last couple of hundred years. In fact, during the "wild west days", we still used wire, (the telegraph), not radiated energy to communicate.
So, whaddya say will all drop what we're doing to survive, and invest all our time in "SETI". Sounds like great fun, if you like listening to the "universe's grass grow", so to speak.
A couple of other points. First:
How Old is the Universe? Until recently, astronomers estimated that the Big Bang occurred between 12 and
14 billion years ago. To put this in perspective, the Solar System is thought to be
4.5 billion years old and humans have existed as a genus for only a
few million years.
Or, here's another (allegedly) more precise estimate:
In 2012, WMAP estimated the age of the universe to be
13.772 billion years, with an uncertainty of 59 million years. In 2013, Planck measured the age of the universe at
13.82 billion years.Jun 8, 2017
So that means our solar system is a "new kid on the block", when speaking in terms of cosmic time. Empires could have "turned back to sand", billions of years before the earth even existed.
As for "evolution winning", that's also true. Until a predator emerges that is do vicious, so successful, and so voracious, it ends its own existence by virtue of consuming all it encounters. And sorry to report, in terms of this planet, that very predator is MAN.
And since I always strive to maintain my sense of humor in the face of adversity, consider this; if that mean old asteroid hadn't hit,
Tyrannosaurus rex, might be sending its hatchlings to really, really, big schools, to this day and beyond.
