Good questions, Jim. I'm not sure just how I'd respond, but I'm sure there's an answer somewhere! I don't mind that a small amount of tax dollars is spent on SETI research. After all, the SETI budget probably wouldn't pay for 10 minutes in Iraq or Afghanistan. But I wouldn't support a significantly greater budget, either. I think we'd all be excited to find any evidence for intelligent life beyond our own planet, maybe even the Pope would be pleased, but I can't say for sure. I guess the SETI debate is a topic I'd rather shelve for awhile. ;-) Unless someone can tell me how the Pope or Chris Buttars feels about it? ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Cobb" <james@cobb.name> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 4:44 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Regarding Design | Many in this discussion have taken the dogmatic view that the design | inference cannot be part of science--it's religion and the two cannot | be mixed. | | I would be interested to know where those who are so strongly | inclined against even considering the design hypotheses stand on | SETI. Does not SETI consist of combing through EM signals looking | for sign of intelligence? Does not ID consist of combing the signals | embedded in DNA searching for sign of intelligence? | | By all means, do not teach in the high schools as certainty that ET | exists. Is it OK to mention in that venue that the search for ET is | an ongoing activity? | | Regards, | Jim | | _______________________________________________ | Utah-Astronomy mailing list | Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com | http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy | Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com | | ______________________________________________________________________ | This e-mail has been scanned by Cut.Net Managed Email Content Service, using Skeptic(tm) technology powered by MessageLabs. For more information on Cut.Nets Content Service, visit http://www.cut.net | ______________________________________________________________________ | |