So mapping the galaxy is worth the time and money, but checking to see if there is anyone else at those places you map, no matter how slim the odds, isn't? Right. Anyway, don't let the door hit... well you know the rest.

It would be a damn shame if SETI had to shut down. Knowing we are not alone would make such a difference. I'm reading 'The Eerie Silence' right now, it's written by Paul Davies, who is pretty much the head of SETI's after contact division. It's an interesting read, looks like he is leading up to the drake equasion, starting with all the factors that are part of that.

As much as we all want to romanticize, SETI's future coming to an end is almost inevitable.  In the big scheme of things it has to go.  Sorry guys.

What's this 'big scheme'.....the fears and hopes of the God-wallopers that Man is his ultimate creation?...

Well, it's the opposite of the 'small scheme'.... which, in this case, could be missionaries going into the jungle to listen for signs of life of the rare Pygmy tribe, the Wehthafuckahwe's... a clan of 3 foot nothings who live in 6 foot high grass.  Apparently the missionaries place audiophones [summat like those found on old gramophones] to the ground and wait for the sounds of movement.  Personally, I'd find a comfy posie up a tree and wait for the little buggers to jump up and call out: "Weh tha fuck ah we?" 

The OP specifically mentions Google and Intel as the possible sources of funding. No mention was made of public money (tax related or other). There was also no request made for private or individual donations. To suggest there was would be yet another mistaken/false assumption by direct statement or innuendo.

To do so would probably have immediately triggered spam from "Nigerian Princes".

Well said Fuzzy.

Exactly... Those who benefited and who can benefit from positive PR spin should get behind this. Which was the point of the OP.

Corporations, the great saviors of humanity. *booming music*

Ah yes, Batman, Iron Man, Green Arrow and every other comic book ultra super rich archetype.  That's why they're comics, so comical.

I think you've seen the movie Contact one too many times there Jafo.  Starting to take it a little too seriously.

Genesis states the first man and woman but that other people physically predate them.   Hmm, people but not the first man and woman, maybe aliens?  The Vatican has already publicly explained there is no religious conflict with the existence of alien life.

SETI is an outdated money sink pork program, one of a great many.  The times are changing.  We can't continue to afford spending like this in an unsustainable manner.  Sure removing one straw won't appear to effect the haystack but try to look on the bright side.  The more we cut, then the more we can redirect to the next generation SETI like program in the future.  A former NASA director once said: "If the public knew the real size of our budget, they'd riot."

The way I personally see SETI, is an obstacle preventing a better future program to replace it and has an improved chance to reach the same objective.

Not really.

The amount of money being spent on SETI is completely insignificant.  Its current budget is something like $3 million a year, which is nothing compared to any project.  The cost of a next generation radio telescope like the SKA is around $2 billion, and even a smaller project like LOFAR is somewhere around $150 million.  Basically, even if you saved the money from SETI for some bigger project, I don't think you would even be keeping pace with inflation.  It would certainty take you literally a hundred years or so to save up that money enough to do anything.

I also very much doubt that a former NASA director said that since NASA's budget hasnt been very high since the Apollo years, and people knew how much was being spent back then.  It's also mostly irrelevant since NASA doesn't have much to do with SETI - SETI doesn't get any government funds directly, although they can get funding from NSF grants and the like.

Now i admit that Mr. Hawking is a LOT smarter than me, but i have to disagree with that. If these aliens were aggressive, like humans, wouldn't it be more likely they had destroyed themselves by fighing each other long before developing interstellar travel technology? Like humans. (Prove me wrong, i dare you! ).

Would be nice.

There you go.

Seriously, though: Discoveries rarely come by schedule or on demand. It takes time and patience, and yes... because the equipment is not free, it takes money. Tax money is not used, unless a government agency tasks SETI with a specific problem, which is then paid for as any contractor/subcontractor would be: Not charity or a give-away.