SETI@home is in hiberation

Project status and scientific outcome

• Commenters note SETI@home has technically been in “hiberation” since 2020; the news hook now is that final analysis and papers have just been published.
• The distributed search processed billions of candidate signals and did not find any confirmed extraterrestrial signal, though a small set of high-priority candidates is being followed up with additional telescope time (e.g., FAST).
• Several people stress that a null result is still scientifically valuable: it constrains optimistic “they’re everywhere” assumptions about intelligent life.

Was the effort worthwhile?

• Some dismiss it as “mostly for nothing.”
• Others counter that negative results matter, and emphasize that SETI@home produced peer‑reviewed papers and a well-characterized search of a large parameter space.
• Many argue the main legacy is methodological and infrastructural rather than a discovery of aliens.

Distributed computing legacy and other @home projects

• SETI@home is credited with inspiring BOINC and, more broadly, popularizing distributed volunteer computing.
• BOINC-based projects (e.g., Rosetta@home, climateprediction.net, Einstein@home, World Community Grid) are cited, with specific mention that some have generated hundreds of papers.
• Folding@home is still active; there’s discussion of its complementarity with AlphaFold and its role in protein/medical research, including during COVID.
• Some users recall BOINC being harder to use than the old screensaver, which may have cost participation.

Radio detectability, Fermi paradox, and communication

• One side claims Earth-like radio leakage would be detectable tens of light-years away, making the silence striking.
• Others push back with links arguing ordinary broadcast emissions fade into noise beyond a few light-years; only very powerful, well-aimed beacons might be visible ~1000 ly away.
• There’s debate over the Great Filter vs. probabilistic “Dissolving the Fermi Paradox” arguments.
• A subthread explores whether meaningful two-way communication is only practical within ~20 light-years and what bandwidth/contents such an exchange could have.

Nostalgia and cultural impact

• Many reminisce about running the screensaver on Pentium-era machines, checking hopefully for “you found aliens” messages.
• Strong association with 1990s–2000s UFO culture and X‑Files; some lament that conspiracies used to feel more playful.
• People recall offices and labs filled with SETI@home on idle machines, feeling like participants in a grand sci‑fi project.

Energy, cost, and practicality today

• Several note that in the early 2000s, extra CPU load barely changed power draw or noise, making donation “feel free.”
• Modern CPUs/GPUs draw hundreds of watts and spin up loud fans, so running @home projects is more noticeable and costly.
• Some repurpose compute-heavy workloads as space heaters in winter, or discuss “compute-for-heat” cryptominer heaters.

Humor, pranks, and miscellany

• A famous prank client faking an “Alien Life Found!” dialog is recalled.
• Multiple jokes about the persistent “hiberation” typo.
• People mention early grid-computing experiments and internships where SETI code was used as a compiler/performance benchmark.