Should the government fleece taxpayers again for a project with almost zero chance for success? Consider two "Richter scales" that should inform hopes.
We often hear exciting news about 'habitable planets' that might have life, or at least the 'building blocks of life.' Are these reports based on sound thinking about the requirements?
NASA throws money at origin-of-life (OOL) studies that are doomed to failure, and at education programs to tell students that futility is good science.
SETI has had no success since the 1950s. It lost government funding in 1993. It still has had no success. Why is the government throwing tax dollars at it again?