Will SETI@home users receive recognition if the mothership returns?

[eNtRopY]

When the mothership returns...

So if we ever make contact with alien life, is there anything in it for us SETI@home dudes? I mean I've already completed hundreds of units; I feel like I should get some credit for all that hard work my computer did.

eNtRopY

 

[maximus]

never heard of it. what do you guys do?

 

[username]

So if we ever make contact with alien life, is there anything in it for us SETI@home dudes? I mean I've already completed hundreds of units; I feel like I should get some credit for all that hard work my computer did.

I really don't think so, as the integrity of the data is not really that well protected, it makes you wonder the real motives or scientific capability of this institution.

Whatever its all good stuff, as long as did not spend to much money on it ;)

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Originally posted by eNtRopY
So if we ever make contact with alien life, is there anything in it for us SETI@home dudes? I mean I've already completed hundreds of units; I feel like I should get some credit for all that hard work my computer did.

I wondered that too. I think a visit to Arecibo would be cool ... for me or my computer

 

[FZ+]

Originally posted by maximus
never heard of it. what do you guys do?

Have you ever see the film Contact? Well, in reality, you don't quite listen to signals from outer space on earphones. You send them either to an expensive supercomputer or use the Seti@Home system.

Seti@Home is the world's most successful loose parallel computing project. The data from the telescopes are broken up into 100kb chunks and downloaded onto millions of normal PC and each individually analysed to find signals. Then you upload the completed "work unit" to the central computer. This saves years of supercomputer time. Join today!

 

[username]

My guess is at least a few hackers enjoy trying to make fake alien signals but I guess the way they decipher the data takes that into account?

 

[FZ+]

Yeah. The same packet gets sent to several different client computers, and positive results are simply passed on to the supercomputer for additional analysis.