SETI@HOME Fundraising

[Bill_Thompson]

SETI@HOME / [strike]BOINC[/strike] is looking to raise 750,000 dollars this year in order to keep in operation: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_budget.php and according to their News as of March 30, 2006 they have raised 170,000 so far. It looks like they will make their goal. It seems they have done some good demographic studies since they seem to be right on target.

[Lance]

Are you suggesting we contribute?

[Dragon Star]

I so thats not a good way of going about it...

[umop ap!sdn]

Wow, 5 digit figures each for bandwidth, software dev, and db admin... I guess it stands to reason but it just goes to show what a massive project this is.

[azazul]

SETI@HOME / BOINC is looking to raise 750,000 dollars

I just wanted to clarify, this is just SETI@Home that is having the fundraiser. If you donate, this does not benefit BOINC in general, just SETI@Home, not that there is anything wrong with that. I just don't want a supporter of BOINC and not SETI to donate under false pretenses.

It seems they have done some good demographic studies since they seem to be right on target.

Sure they did, people with spare money that wish to advance distributed computing and create more effective algorithms for extracting signals from satellite data, and likely have reserved judgement on the existence of extraterrestrials.

[Bill_Thompson]

Are you suggesting we contribute?

I am not suggesting you do and I am not suggesting you don't.

But something perported as being of such importance would have more backing by the mainstream if it was what their supporters claim it is.

[Lance]

But something perported as being of such importance would have more backing by the mainstream if it was what their supporters claim it is.

Let's see:
Straw Man
Non Sequitor
Any others?

Bill;
If someone made an argument like that to you, you would laugh in their face at how silly it is.

[Bill_Thompson]

But something perported as being of such importance would have more backing by the mainstream if it was what their supporters claim it is.

Let's see:
Straw Man
Non Sequitor
Any others?

Bill;
If someone made an argument like that to you, you would laugh in their face at how silly it is.

Elaborate how it is Stawman and elaborate how it is Non Sequitur.

If we as a people and a society are so inept to accept that it is of the importance and stature it is perported to be then nothing matters at all anyway. This is not strawman and it is not non sequitur.

[Lance]

But something perported as being of such importance would have more backing by the mainstream if it was what their supporters claim it is.

Let's see:
Straw Man
Non Sequitor
Any others?

Bill;
If someone made an argument like that to you, you would laugh in their face at how silly it is.

Elaborate how it is Stawman and elaborate how it is Non Sequitur.

And now you're trying to redirect the argument.

Sheesh, Bill! How transparent can you be?

ROFL!

[Bill_Thompson]

But something perported as being of such importance would have more backing by the mainstream if it was what their supporters claim it is.

Let's see:
Straw Man
Non Sequitor
Any others?

Bill;
If someone made an argument like that to you, you would laugh in their face at how silly it is.

Elaborate how it is Stawman and elaborate how it is Non Sequitur.

And now you're trying to redirect the argument.

Sheesh, Bill! How transparent can you be?

ROFL!

Please elaborate on why you think it is a strawman argument.

Please elaborate on why you think it is a non sequitur argument.

Please elaborate on why you think I am trying to redirect the argument and why this is not like the pot calling the kettle black.

[Lance]

Please elaborate on why you think I am trying to redirect the argument and why this is not like the pot calling the kettle black.

[Bill_Thompson]

Please elaborate on why you think I am trying to redirect the argument and why this is not like the pot calling the kettle black.

Please elaborate on why you think it is a strawman argument.

Please elaborate on why you think it is a non sequitur argument.

I have asked this three times now.

[Lance]

Bill;

You often pride yourself on being able to spot weak arguments that other make. You should be able to determine this for yourself with only the slightest study.

[Bill_Thompson]

Bill;

You often pride yourself on being able to spot weak arguments that other make. You should be able to determine this for yourself with only the slightest study.

Please elaborate on why you think it is a strawman argument.

Please elaborate on why you think it is a non sequitur argument.

I have asked this four times now.

[Lance]

I have asked this four times now.

OCD?

[Bill_Thompson]

I have asked this four times now.

OCD?

No, Lance, it is neither straw man nor is it non sequitur. I feel badly for anyone who has made the posts you have made. We live in a representative republic that prides itself as being of the people, by the people, and for the people. If any minutia of that was true and if any minutia of what the SETI supporters claim is true of the importance of their project, it would not be struggling for money. Of course if you subscribe to the conspiracy notions that the big bad government is working against us then you have fallen into their realm and the argument is void.

[Lance]

No, Lance, it is neither straw man nor is it non sequitur.

Yeah, okay... You just keep telling yourself that.

[Bill_Thompson]

No, Lance, it is neither straw man nor is it non sequitur.

Yeah, okay... You just keep telling yourself that.

But you refuse to elaborate. If you hurl insults without any logic to back it up you are running on emotion and not cognition. If you believe it, we live in a representative republic that prides itself as being of the people, by the people, and for the people. If any minutia of that was true and if any minutia of what the SETI supporters claim is true of the importance of their project, it would not be struggling for money. Of course if you subscribe to the conspiracy notions that the big bad government is working against us then you have fallen into their realm and the argument is void.

[Lance]

Bill;

MANY things are important and under or unfunded. Give it up, would you please?

I had no idea you seriously didn't understand that.

[Bill_Thompson]

Bill;

MANY things are important and under or unfunded. .

But not as important and as underfunded.

[Lance]

Bill;

MANY things are important and under or unfunded. .

But not as important and as underfunded.

Your logic escapes me. Why do you think it is so important?

[Bill_Thompson]

Bill;

MANY things are important and under or unfunded. .

But not as important and as underfunded.

Your logic escapes me. Why do you think it is so important?

No, you calm that its lack of funding is no indication of its importance and that there are lots of underfunded projects that are still important. And I said that this is a special case because it is supposedly the MOST important project ever and it is HUGELY underfunded.

[Lance]

You better work on your reading comprehension Bill, because I never said any such thing.

It was YOU who said if it were so important it would have better funding. I just pointed out that that was a stupid argument.

[MM_Dandy]

But something perported as being of such importance would have more backing by the mainstream if it was what their supporters claim it is.

Maybe its just not that important to everybody. Some people (gasp!) might not care at all if there is extra-terrestrial life. Some people might just be more concerned about life on this planet, and prioritize accordingly. Other people might not even be aware of the possibility, however remote it may be.

As Lance pointed out, there are many things which are important and underfunded. But, in your opening post, you wrote:

It looks like they [SETI@HOME] will make their goal.

Which means that it is important to enough of the general public that it's likely to be sustained through private donations, despite this appearent lack of "mainstream" support. What more could you ask for? The people who care about it can fund it adequately through donations, and the people who don't care about it don't have to worry about whether their money is being used to support one more project that they don't care about.

[Edited to fix grammar and for clarification]

[I Am He]

If I was you Bill, I'd keep my mouth shut and just move on. You are just making a bigger ass of yourself then you already are.

Just a word of advice, Old Boy.