We should all thank SETI@Home for one very important development: the creation of BOINC.
Although SETI@Home may never find proof of extra terrestrial intelligence the project has contributed massively to the field of publicly distributed computing. The research being done is as much related to data science and computing technology as it is to astronomy.
There is often a great deal of value in the process of conducting research even if the immediate outcome seems fruitless.
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Collateral research is a result of scientific inquiry. Searching for a better way to do A often results in methods to also do B, C, D, and R.
hey that's my line! xD