Universal Translator Might be Needed to Understand ET

space.com ^ | 01/27/05 | Douglas Vakoch

[KevinDavis]

Will we ever find a primer for decoding messages from extraterrestrials? Last month, anthropologists who gathered for a major conference in Atlanta, Georgia heard some news that will be sobering for SETI enthusiasts: it may be much more difficult to understand extraterrestrials than many scientists have thought before.

Among the sessions held during December’s annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association was one called "Anthropology, Archaeology, and Interstellar Communication: Science and the Knowledge of Distant Worlds." The session included papers by scholars from such diverse fields as astronomy, archaeology, anthropology, and psychology. Is there a Cosmic Rosetta Stone, they asked, drawing parallels to Earth’s own Rosetta Stone, which provided the key to decoding Egyptian hieroglyphics? Will we ever find a comparable primer for decrypting any messages we might receive some day from extraterrestrials?

[RadioAstronomer]

Nice link! Thanks.

http://www.gwillick.com/Spacelight/piper.html

[js1138]

That's a real downer.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Haven't they heard of Babel Fish?"

[RadioAstronomer]

Sorry, thought you knew. The website is dedicated to authors who have passed on.

http://www.gwillick.com/Spacelight/sffobit.html

[R. Scott]

Should we ever “see” a signal that could be decoded, what in the heck could we use as a “Rosetta Stone”? Often, mathematics is cited since a number such as Pi or e would be the same everywhere.

That would be a big assumption – ET is intentionally trying to communicate. The odds are that the first signals we would pick up would be entertainment radio shows. How would we know if we did?

[RadioAstronomer]

One of the books/authors I truly could not stand. LOL!

[DOGEY]

Contary to popular belief aliens does not speak english.


What aliens? I must have missed them. The last I heard we were using radio telescopes to detect a message. So far ET has not phoned home or us. Maybe, just maybe, no body is out there.

[RadioAstronomer]

That would be a big assumption – ET is intentionally trying to communicate. The odds are that the first signals we would pick up would be entertainment radio shows. How would we know if we did?

IMHO, we won't see such a number. All we would be able to "see" is the carrier, not the modulation. Having a carrier that is coded mathematically is just not very likely. I do not think messages are being broadcast purposely in our direction. Should we see anything, we would see a random carrier that was unintentionally broadcast into space, not unlike what we do as a species every day.

[RadioAstronomer]

So far ET has not phoned home or us. Maybe, just maybe, no body is out there.

Lots of space and lots of frequencies. We have only started so to speak. :-)

[Brett66]

Hey RA, I been meaning to ask you about the definitions of intelligent life, I heard "tool using" used as a description of intelligence, wouldn't such a definition include chimpanzees? Would they be considered "intelligent", since they use rocks to break open shells and other souces of food?

[Capitalism2003]

http://www.khaaan.com/

[Bon mots]

ping

[RadioAstronomer]

Hey RA, I been meaning to ask you about the definitions of intelligent life, I heard "tool using" used as a description of intelligence, wouldn't such a definition include chimpanzees? Would they be considered "intelligent", since they use rocks to break open shells and other souces of food?

Tough question! Some believe that Dolphins are intelligent even though they do not use tools. I think the line gets blurred personally.

For SETI, all we can do is look for a non-natural RF source such as an extremely narrowband carrier. This implies a tool building species that has progressed far enough to be using tools that emit microwaves at a power high enough for us to detect them.

[js1138]

Have you read The Futurians by Damon Knight?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurians

[DoctorMichael]

Thanks for the inclusion in the list. ET-stuff has always interested me and your explanation and questions were great.

[RadioAstronomer]

I have read some of Damon Knight's work. But not sure on this one. I will check it out. :-)

Thanks!

[RadioAstronomer]

You are most welcome. :-)

[Semper Paratus]

The odds are that the first signals we would pick up would be entertainment radio shows.

Aliens 40 light years out should be picking up TV broadcasts of the 3 Stooges. That may cause them to blow us into the sun.

[r9etb]

Interesting post.

However, I would quibble about what a "Hello World" message would look like. Why waste time hoping that somebody knows how to decode your version of e or pi?

I'm thinking that any civilization that can broadcast to the universe, has also recognized the fact that nature apparently abhors a straight line. Seems to me that an extended, regular pattern is the radio equivalent of a straight line.

For example, if we assume (although there is no particular reason to do so) that our aliens are transmitting a binary code, then the most natural "straight line" signal would be some obvious counting sequence, say:

1 ... 12 ... 123 ... 1-10 ... 1 ... 13 ... 135 ... etc.

There's also the matter of how long a pulse we'd have to look for. The bit error rate in a transmission can be reduced by increasing the duration of each bit. How patient are the SETI researchers? Suppose each "bit" was (say) 6 hours long. Would current search patterns recognize that as a signal?

[RadioAstronomer]

Actually SETI is not looking for that "hello" message. All SETI is looking for is that narrowband carrier telling us we are not the only tool building species in this universe.