The screensaver hunt for aliens is a cautionary tale for AI miracle hopes
seanmcdonaldxyz · x · 2026-10-21
The author recalls the brief, magical era of SETI@home screensavers, when people believed idle home computers could help humanity find aliens. He draws an analogy to current hopes for AI/SI: in theory it may deliver some miracle, but if it happens, it will arrive in non-obvious ways rather than the script we imagine.
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