Re:SETI Needs Your Help to Resume Search for Extraterrestria...
by cryptoz on Wednesday August 03, 2011 @01:45PM
(#2842120)
SETI has scanned the tiniest fraction of the nearby places to look. We're still in the first 30 seconds of couch-looking. It'll be centuries before we're at the 2 hour mark.
Also, as the exoplanet hunt gets better and better, SETI gets more and more data about which stars are the best ones to look at.
That's useful information. But the returns rapidly diminish. The first thirty seconds you use checking to see if your car keys are under the couch is time well spent. But if you're still looking under your couch two hours later... well, it's possible your car keys ain't there.