SETI is useless.

Subject: Seti will die
Date: Thursday, February 10, 2000 13:09

The real thing that's going to kill easy SETI is technological advancement.
We're moving rapidly into this today; television transmitters have fractional-megawatt carrier signals on precisely controlled frequencies, but digital TV is due to replace it after barely 50 years.
Digital signals are much more random, since they have discarded the predictable (and thus information-free) parts and try to carry only the intelligence. This is a form of data compression, and perfectly compressed data looks just like noise; it becomes undetectable.
Conclusion: SETI will not detect incidental signals from an alien race except during the period between the invention of radio and the invention of compact digital electronics.

[by Tau Zero, on Slashdot: link unknown]

© Irmen de Jong - irmen (at) xs4all.nl