Frequently Asked Questions

Has the WETI Institute been found by an extraterrestrial signal yet?

WETI has not yet been contacted by extraterrestrial intelligence. When will success occur? No one knows. It could happen tomorrow, or it could take many years. Maybe it will never occur. But the only way to find out is to wait.

Who funds the WETI program?

Fortunately, waiting for extraterrestrial intelligence is inherently a very cheap process. No expensive equipment is needed. Thus all funding for WETI institute is easily generated by t-shirt and mug sales.

But isn't it unjust to place the financial burden of contacting us on extraterrestrial civilizations?

Bear in mind that these extraterrestrial civilizations are likely to be technologically much more evolved than we are. Otherwise, how could they contact us?

What if the they are waiting for us, as well? Shouldn't we also try to contact them, just to be safe?

No. All good extraterrestrials come to those who wait. And we don't want the bad extraterrestrials to find us, do we? That wouldn't be very safe at all. They would probably make things explode and be rude to farm animals.

What happens if extraterrestrial beings do eventually find us?

The first thing to do is to let them confirm that we are truly extraterrestrial (to them). We may be a figment of their imagination, an elaborate hoax, or just a bad dream. Once they have confirmed that we exist, they will probably know what to do.

Does the WETI@home software send any user data to the WETI institute's servers? Is it spyware?

Far from being spyware, the WETI@home software is best described as being spied-upon-ware.

I don't own a computer to run the WETI@home software on. Is there any other way I can help?

If you do not own a computer, you can participate by putting a blank piece of paper in a book you own. Periodically check the paper for messages from the extraterrestrials. If you do not own a book, buy one.

In movies, extraterrestrials always seem to contact farmers in the American Midwest. Do my chances of success depend on where I live? Should I move?

In theory there is a slightly better chance of being found by extraterrestrial intelligence in the central parts of the big landmasses at moderate latitudes, i.e. in North America or central Asia. If their reasoning is not entirely different from ours, they probably would select dry landing places in moderate climates. Fortunately, those areas are already well-populated by human beings, thus optimizing our chances of success. As of today, however, all our assumptions about what aliens like and what they don't like are pure speculation, as we haven't had a chance to ask them yet. Therefore, current research does not put too much emphasis on the geographical location of the WETI site or the WETI@home participants' place of residence.

More questions? Send an email to info@weti-institute.org and we will try to answer.