Originally Posted by
justintime
It is no help to Sagan. It just shows the picture is not very rosy for people approximating large numbers of finds when it is extremely reduced. The fact NASA has stopped funding SETI should be evidence it is not the preferred way to look for ETI. Nor does Stephen Hawking recommend we look for them. They might not be all that altruistic.
Evasion and illogic. Your can't claim that Sagan made an irrational choice based on information gathered after he died.
Hawking recommends that we do not attempt to contact aliens. He does not say we should not look for them.