On the back of news that SETI, an array of satellite dishes that search for extraterrestrial intelligence, would be shut down, John at μcosmologist put together a infographic to compare the cost of running it against other things. For instance, it costs $2.5 million a year to run one SETI satellite, while one Predator drone costs $4.5 million. A Citibank exec’s bonus? $19.3 million. And if just a small part of the $10.7 billion Starbucks made last year was put aside instead of paying for their employee’s health insurance, we’d have ET’s whole city in the bag. In comparison, continuing to send and seek out bleeps into a silent and uncaring void isn’t that much. Check out the full version here, and stick around for the money shot by scrolling all the way to the bottom. [More]
