The following is a selection of responses to a poll on the seti@home website. The poll asks users why they donate their computing resources to the search for extra-terrestrial life.

• Because I'm a science fiction fan, and I believe in alien civilizations.


• Because my girlfriend thinks it's dumb.


• Crazy alien sex.


• Debunk the arrogance of the monkeyboys


• Distributive Computing as Alternative To Taxes


• ET IS HERE AND THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO BE EXPOSED


• Enjoy Expensive Electric Bills


• Find ET and dissect it. Is it DNA-based? If it exists, it is likely to be fascinating inside.


• Find ET before they find us. Might give us a tactical advantage


• Find ET for personal gain. The knowledge that would be gained from the discovery would benefit me immensely (as it would everyone else, but that's incidental). "For the good of humanity" is an expression of the irrational morality of altruism.


• Find ET in case they are badass biker aliens


• Find ET so Leno will have new material for awhile


• Find a race that possesses the technology to travel great distances in space, so that I can finally get off this stinking hole.


• Get Girls


• Give the aliens a name and then kick in their butt.


• Hoping to find an alien like the one in "Species"


• I am an Alien. Just want to contact with my own species.


• I suspect the concept would be entertaining to college girls.


• I want to find my long-lost, evil-twin, anti-matter half-brother


• I want to impress my girlfriend


• I would like to see if an ET civilization would treat us as badly as we treat non-human animals


• I'm so lonely


• I've got lakefront property in FLA to sell, what better customer than "ET"!


• If I find E.T.do I get to meet Jodie Foster? Please?


• It's a techie tractor pull


• Let Star Trek please be true!


• My girlfriend saw it on a friends computer and found it annoying


• Possibility and fantasy


• SCIENCE KICKS ASS!!!


• So I can get lucky with an alien babe.


• The same reson firetrucks are red! well, if 1+2 is 3 and 3x4 is 12, hrmmm there 12 inches in a ruler, queen elizabeth was a ruler, queen elizabeth was also a ship, ships sail in the sea, fish live in the sea, fish have fins, the Fins fought the russians, russians wore red, firetrucks are russian, and thats why firetrucks are red, and thats why i do seti.


• To be able to add "Aided U.C. Berkeley in analyzing radio telescope data." to my resume.


• To bring Denmark up on rank number one where it belongs


• To find a cute alien to run away with and marry.


• To find a planet and sell the naming rights.


• To get Finland to pass Sweden on country-list