Based upon Carl Sagan's 1985 novel, the Warner Brothers film details the discovery of extra-terrestrial intelligent life by a fictional Government program called Project Argus . Ours is a grass-roots effort of the world's radio hams and amateur astronomers. The SETI program described in the novel and film represents how the search for intelligent extra-terrestrial life might have been carried out, had Congress allowed NASA to continue an effort begun in 1992. I told him, no, I stole it from the same source you did, Arthur C. Clarke's earlier novel Imperial Earth .
Any plagiarism is justified if it keeps the search alive.
That would be enough to finance The SETI League's operations for about 600 years. Still, he feels the money is well spent if it raises public consciousness as to the importance of SETI research. SETI scientists seek to determine through microwave and optical measurements whether humankind is alone in the universe. Since Congress terminated NASA's SETI funding in 1993, The SETI League and other scientific groups have been attempting to privatize the research. Be sure to provide us with a postal address to which we will mail further information.