Posted on 07/21/2003 10:03:12 AM PDT by presidio9
EXTRATERRESTRIAL beings, unsmiling and frequently malevolent creatures from other worlds, are routine fixtures on the telly and in the cinema.
Such aliens are handy antagonists for space opera, and are appealing to script writers because of their unknown, and therefore thoroughly arbitrary, temperament and ability.
But what if we were to find real extraterrestrials? Many scientists, encouraged by research of the past decade, suspect that other beings, and other societies, may be well and truly spread throughout our galaxy. In our immediate cosmic neighbourhood, life could have appeared on Mars or on several of the moons of Jupiter. While this nearby life, if it indeed exists, would likely consist of organisms no larger, and no more challenging than refrigerator mould, its discovery would prove that biology is as humdrum as telephone poles.
Beyond the solar system, astronomers know that tens of billions of other, unseen planets spin among the vast tracts of the Milky Way. If biology is commonplace, there's a chance that some of it, somewhere, may have evolved to a level of intelligence comparable or superior to ours. So far, researchers attempting to find such intelligence by eavesdropping on signals from other star systems have come up dry. But new instruments, such as the Allen Telescope Array being built in California, could turn up clear-cut evidence for cosmic company in the next several decades.
If that happens, what would be mankind's response? Despite the nasty behaviour of celluloid aliens, there would be little danger if we overheard signals from real extraterrestrials. After all, the broadcasters wouldn't know that we'd picked up their transmissions, and in addition, the tyranny of distance would protect us: the aliens are likely to be hundreds or thousands of light years away.
To bridge such enormous chasms with rockets is a daunting proposition, no matter what level of technology they might have. The aliens won't come visiting. Those inclined to believe that news of a detected signal from space would immediately be squelched by governments nervous about public panic are indulging in unjustified paranoia.
Even though face-to-face contact is unlikely, conversation might not be. Should we reply to any signal? Clearly, if the aliens are hundreds of light years distant, there's no urgency to grab the microphone. Indeed, back-and-forth communication with our cosmic brethren is likely to be intolerably slow – taking centuries for a single exchange. The aliens will realise this, of course, and will presumably send everything they have to say in one go. Some have suggested that they would simply broadcast the latest version of their Encyclopedia Galactica, repeating it endlessly in the hope that we will eventually tune in and download their society's accumulated wisdom.
This sunny scenario assumes both altruism and an interest in universal education on the part of the aliens, and could be highly unrealistic. After all, any extraterrestrials we detect are likely to be far in advance of us. And given the fact that the galaxy is roughly three times the age of Earth, it's possible that we might discover intelligence that is literally billions of years beyond our own. The thought that the proprietors of such intelligence would be keen to tell us the secrets of the universe, and possibly invite us to join some sort of "galactic club," is akin to the idea that we might take the trouble to educate the backyard ants.
It is only natural that we imagine that "they" will be like "us". But intelligence has the ability to modify itself – something we will experience in the coming decades as we fiddle with our own genome. In the long term, biological intelligence might even invent a successor in the form of thinking machines. We could discover, somewhat to Hollywood's surprise, that the dominant forms of galactic intelligence are not soft and squishy biological creatures, but highly sophisticated artificial constructions whose interests and motivations are enormously beyond our comprehension.
It is entirely conceivable that any signal we eventually pick up from extraterrestrials will be no more understandable to us than the digital signal from a computer modem would be to neanderthals.
But even if this turns out to be the case, we will be the better for having found it. After all, our telescopes have shown us a universe that is vast, bitterly cold, and implacably hostile. A faint signal from the depths of that huge, dark arena would tell us that some entity able to observe and understand nature is out there. And although visits, or even conversation, might not be on the cards, there's comfort in knowing that you don't live alone.
We can't be sure of this. They may actually be behind us in technology, with their weak radio signals being picked up and boosted by natural phenomena, then eventually received by us. (That is, if anyone else is out there at all.)
Those aliens 35 light years away are picking up such gems as the "Beverly Hillbillies" "The 3 Stooges", and "My favorite Martian".
No it won't be worth the trip.
I've got a doctors appointment that day.... HMO's suck.
They may want to know more about how he could get his wife to the moon.
Good luck with that. The first generation of stars/planents did not have very many elements higher up than five on the periodic table. I will stake my reputation that there were no intelligent beings in the Milky Way 12-15 billion years ago.
And what, pray tell, is that reputation based on?
That's pretty bold. You know you risk alienating your family from the neighborhood social scene if you lose, don't you?
You're assuming native beings, how about colonists from older galaxies?
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