Slashdot Mirror
Search for Terrestrial Intelligence
joshv writes: "Scientists have prepared a new message to be beamed out to the stars. Unlike the messages of the past this one tries to include some basic resistance to the noise that might be introduced in transit. The CETI project page contains a link to the new message. It a big bag of 0's and 1's. About 10% noise has been added. Can you crack the code? Details of the project as well as an interview with the one of the creators of the new message can be found in this New Scientist article. A hint to decoding: think simple raster based images and remember your powers of 2." Might want to get your copy of Beyond Contact or at least look at the first message they sent.
I got it on the first try: All Your Base Are Belong To Us.
We all knew there's no intelligent life on earth, what I want to know is there any in outer space!
Reid
I like teamwork. It's easier to assign blame that way.
No wonder no one responded!
Perhaps they'll have better luck with plain text.
"I'm The Bounty Bear. I will find him anywhere. I'm searching."
Look, they can only count to 1! Zarqblast, how do you think they made it to radio's with only 0 and 1's?
The message should read :
Have you seen Bin Ladden??? If so, please contact us at :
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
(202) 324-3000
Dunno who wrote this, but this story reminded me of it:
----
Imagine if you will... the leader of the fifth invader force speaking to the commander in chief...
"They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"Meat. They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"There's no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."
"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars."
"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."
"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."
"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."
"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in the sector and they're made out of meat."
"Maybe they're like the Orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage."
"Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take too long. Do you have any idea the life span of meat?"
"Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."
"Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads like the Weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through." "No brain?"
"Oh, there is a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat!"
"So... what does the thinking?"
"You're not understanding, are you? The brain does the thinking. The meat."
"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"
"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?"
"Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat."
"Finally, Yes. They are indeed made out meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years."
"So what does the meat have in mind?" "First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the universe, contact other sentients, swap ideas and information. The usual."
"We're supposed to talk to meat?"
"That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there? Anyone home?' That sort of thing."
"They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?"
"Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat."
"I thought you just told me they used radio."
"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."
"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?"
"Officially or unofficially?"
"Both."
"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome, and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in the quadrant, without prejudice, fear, or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing."
"I was hoping you would say that."
"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"
"I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say?" `Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?"
"Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact."
"So we just pretend there's no one home in the universe."
"That's it."
"Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you have probed? You're sure they won't remember?"
"They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them."
"A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream."
"And we can mark this sector unoccupied."
"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"
"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again."
"They always come around."
"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the universe would be if one were all alone."
Well, if you're looking for terrestrial Intelligence as the headline to this article says, you're looking in the wrong place!
and wrap it around the space shuttle, you get the Pepsi Logo.
It's called the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Who's interested in getting responses from dumb aliens?
-- SIGFPE
Or perhaps they transmitted DeCSS source code so some intelligent life may make use of it...
--- BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE ---
:-)
1010 101:
10001010110101011011100100. 1010100000100101010?00101001011101 "0101011010101101101010" 101010... 101101010100101010010100010100/.1010010100131337. 001001101010ph34r. 10111001010id41000101110. 1010010101011100101111111001010010010100
11010000100101011011101010010110000!!! 11001010111101000101000011100. 10101011000001101010101010101010010101
1101011101,
110111
--- END PGP SIGNED MESSAGE ---
Visit our website at http://www.yahoo.com/~cthulhu
Hi, we're the humans, look at all the cool scientifical data we got!
a/s/l?
I decoded the image and here it is! Those damn scientologists were right! This just proves my theory that the reason all those powerful folks become scientologists because they have actually spoken to Xenu! This "Search for Terrestrial Intelligence" is really just another scientologist ploy to get other alien races to follow the wisdom of Xenu!
std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
Fun-loving bipedal species with reasonable sense of humor seeks intelligent alien race for meaningful exchange. Must not have too much hair or too many legs. Not willing to serve as breeding stock. Brain-eaters need not apply.
We sent the equiliviant of the IRC message....
A/S/L?
Supries that the planet hasn't been kick/banned already.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I think we've just been insulted.
The chances are so close to 100% as to be 100%: you're obviously flipping with a two-headed coin. Odds are 1:2^12 that you're not cheating!
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
1) Did you notice that near the end of the message there's a map, and a weird symbol right over China?
This seems a little suspicious. Are they suggesting that the aliens dump their weapons or land their ship in China?
2) The people in the picture have no pubic hair, and the guy has a small wang.
3) Both Earth and Jupiter are marked on the map. Why Jupiter? Is this a 2001 thing? Is Jupiter going to turn into a second sun as predicted by Arthur C Clarke?
4) Why does this message look like the average instruction manual you get with motherboards nowadays?
mogorific carpentry experiments
"Hey, Qrlkustn... dude look what I got - some alien pr0n!"
On another note, it was recently discovered that when Hilary Rosen found out about this message, she sent one from RIAA soon thereafter. The message contained a complete copy of the DMCA and a legal warning that any attempt to "crack" the message would be in violation of the law and would be strictly prosecuted. Tomorrow, Ms Rosen plans to argue in front of the House judiciary committee that such attempts to send hidden messages to aliens are outside of RIAA's direct control and, could therefore potentially be used as tools for illegal activities such as transferring copyrighted content to aliens.
After years of sending unsollicited messages, we're probably already blacklisted every SPAM list for the next gazillion years ;)
;)
If we ever get some message back it'll probably be:
DON'T SEND ANY MORE UNSOLLICITED MESSAGES
Failing to do so will result in legal action.
So, like, when the aliens decode the message, does that mean their first visitors to our planet will be arrested for violating the DMCA?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
For those who can't be bothered to even read the /. synopsis:
Can you crack the code?...A hint to decoding: think simple raster based images and remember your powers of 2
The question in the synopsis, to which the title applies, is posed to earthlings. It's a funny. Get it yet?