Posted on 10/05/2019 12:05:15 PM PDT by DoodleBob
SENDING messages into deep space could be the best way for Earthlings to find extraterrestrial intelligence, but it carries a grave risk: alerting hostile aliens to our presence. Game theory may provide a way to navigate this dilemma.
So far the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has mostly been restricted to listening for signs of technology elsewhere. Only a few attempts have been made to broadcast messages towards distant stars. Many scientists are against such active SETI for fear of revealing our presence. If all aliens feel the same way then no one will be broadcasting, and the chance of detecting each other is limited.
To weigh up the potential losses and gains, Harold de Vladar of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria in Klosterneuburg turned to the prisoners dilemma, a game-theory problem in which two prisoners choose between admitting their shared crime or keeping quiet, with different sentences depending on what they say. An individual prisoner gets off scot free if they rat on a partner who remains silent, with the silent partner getting a maximum sentence. If they both rat on each other, each gets a medium sentence. By contrast, if both stay silent, both get token sentences the best overall result.
De Vladar reasoned that the SETI dilemma is essentially the same, but reversed. Mutual silence for prisoners is equivalent to mutual broadcasting for aliens, giving the best results for both civilisations. And while a selfish prisoner rats, a selfish civilisation is silent, waiting for someone else to take the risk of waving Over here! at the rest of the universe.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
I don’t see the dilemma myself. I don’t see a danger in letting aliens know that we exist. Any alien civilization with the technology to attack us across the vastness of the universe probably already knows we are here.
Rocks like Ohmomma have probably been spinning in and oit the somar system for billions of years. Whats to explain?
Consider the level of technology advance over the last 100 years. The odds of our encountering an alien civilization which is at our level of capability is infinitesimally small. Neighboring life will most likely either be much more primitive, or far more advanced.
If they are primitive, then they will not receive our communication. If they are advanced, then they will detect us from our radio and radar transmissions no matter what we do.
If theres an FTL star-faring civilization out there, they could pick up our signal in one direction, communicate the bearing to other parts of their empire, and triangulate our location based on signals received (or not yet) in other parts of on other ships. They could narrow their search pretty quickly.
We could go silent. But we have decades of unregulated signals moving outward that could be picked up for a long time to help refine their search. IF theres an FTL Star-faring civilization that spans systems out there.
And Im aware of the possibility that weve already been found.
If aliens want to smear us, the sooner the better for them, I suppose. But I figure they already control local space and could be drawing on resources in other, life-less systems without needing to bother with ours. Theyre observing us at their leisure before deciding what to do about us.
One final thoughtare we really worried about dolphins or apes developing into dangerous enemies? If so, why would highly advanced aliens have such fears about us?
Advanced aliens need to ensure their survival; eliminating competition is a way to do that while communication is not.
The thing about aliens is they are alien.
There is only one thing faster than the speed of light,the speed of thought. This is not an appropriate thread for here,maybe ten years from now.
Dr. Michael Sala has a great book out Secret Space programs,read it and weep.
Well that’s what’s out there. Rocks.
Frozen air-less rocks.
That’s all.
lol
yes you’re right
It’s not the movies where INCREDIBLY ADVANCED civilizations have fighters that our jets can take out in dog fights :)
Their weapons would be UNGODLY in their destructive potential.
Or maybe, if they’re that advanced and saw us already, they decided that many, many thousands of years from now we could be dangerous so they have sent one of the weapons already.
If theres an FTL star-faring civilization out there, they could pick up our signal in one direction, communicate the bearing to other parts of their empire, and triangulate our location based on signals received (or not yet) in other parts of on other ships.
That works only if the civilization spans millions of light years, else it remains a flat line.
“But I figure they already “
Assumptions about aliens are foolish because they are aliens and do not necessarily think as you or I might.
If we use resources they will later need, there is no way for them to recover them.
The decisions are already visible and made in the real world here on Earth. There is no functional difference between a pack of lions hunting and an alien civilization; they both seek finite resources. Prey on the African plain that can hide or run fast survive, those that are weak, make a stupid mistake, or slow get eaten. Its just a matter of time.
One was a distant companion of Oumuamua shaped the same, the other is a large comet/asteroid just entering our system. There is a post about the latest entry somewhere.
Glad you are positive in your belief, but underestimating things is not a wise position. Keep an open mind.
I have read all of Salla’s stuff—most here would not like it—but I would not dismiss it too quickly.
Ahhhhhhh.....so we invite the aliens to play a game of Chutes And Ladders and then we shoot them in the back.
Tricky.....tricky.....
I like it.
Agreed—we are captives of our cultural beliefs—which these days fall under the general category of “science”.
Rupert Sheldrake has taken this on here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKHUaNAxsTg
Your highness, we have received signals from a planet called earth.
What are these signals?
It is something called The View.
Let me see it.
.....15 minutes later.....
HIT THEM WITH THE DEATH RAY!!! HIT THEM THREE TIMES TO ENSURE THE UNIVERSE IS FREE FROM THIS GARBAGE!!!
Our first SETI transmissions were in the early 1900s. It’s a bit late to worry about it now. Europe power grids are based on 50 Hertz or cycles per second, the Americas chose 60 Hertz.
So as a result the Earth began to transmit an alternating 50Hz / 60Hz tone to outer space that changes frequency every 12 hours as the planet spins. That frequency transmission is over 50 times brighter or stronger than the suns.
Yes, it’s pretty obvious that there is life on this planet to anyone who have technology equal to 1950s radio telescopes. The SETI project is a whisper in a rock concert compared to our ELF signature for the last century.
I find many left wing politicians as cleaver, Saul Alinsky versed, Marxists. I dont call them stupid as they are doing what will destroy America. Which is their goal. But I dont see that in AOC. I do believe she wants to see America as a Marxist nation. But I dont see any intelligence behind those bug eyes. I could be wrong.
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