[js1138]

It occurs to me that if we cannot find the "comments" cond in DNA, with all of it sitting in front of us, we would have difficulty finding a message in SETI.

[RadioAstronomer]

we would have difficulty finding a message in SETI.

More than you might think. Unlike the fantasy of "Contact" or "The Arrival", we are not looking for any messages at all. We are only looking for that extremely narrowband signal signifying a carrier, not what was carried.