Slashdot Mirror
Should SETI Be Looking For Lasers Instead?
colonist writes "Frank Drake, creator of SETI's famous equation, says the detection of extraterrestrial radio signals won't work, because Earth's own radio signal will only be around for 100 years. More and more of Earth's communications use cable and satellites, with no radio-frequency leakage to space. Instead, we should be looking for intentional signals in the form of high-powered lasers that could 'outshine the sun by a factor of 10,000'. Meanwhile, Paul Davies writes that we should be conducting SETI in our DNA. In turns out that an alien message designed to last millenia should be 'inside a large number of self-replicating, self-repairing microscopic machines programmed to multiply and adapt to changing conditions', otherwise known as living cells. Are we the message?"
The message only contained two words:
FIRST POST!
"We apologise for the inconveniance."
Maybe we should consider the possibility that we are part of a device to perform some calculation to find the answer to a certain big question.
Then we hardly need a whole lot of computers to see them!
yup. And the message is 41,99999999 (ad finitum)
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
Oh sure, yeah, right. DNA is the frickin' solution to everything, isn't it?
... sheesh.
Next thing you know, all those conspiracy nutters who say we are "Children of the Gods" will be being appointed to national agencies
Look, if someone knows something about space aliens, then OUT WITH IT!! Why the American people have put up with Area 51 for so long without any sort of culpability being required of their government, I do not know. Of the people and for the people, my ass.
Of the Grey Overlords, and For the Grey Overlords. Lets just call it a spade.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Yes, we are the intelligent design of an alien lifeform. Find out more information at http://www.rael.org/.
I for one welcome our DNA-speaking, laser-shooting overlords. :-D
No user serviceable DNA inside, please consult your local Genesis Device reseller of warrantee issues.
(Hair Color Gene)
Blond Hair Outside! Can't Divide!
(Appendix Formation Gene)
-- Depreciated Code, ##GOD
(Eye Color Gene)
-- Unchecked Buffer but who cares? ##JOE
Aliens with frickin' laser beams on their heads?
Because that would rock.
Remember, it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to pull the trigger of a sniper rifle.
That is to fool the lameness filter. It counts the capitals or something like this.
All my years of hard work at Seti@home for nothing? Oh, well, back to Doom3, much better use of my spare cycles anyway.
no that violates the DMCA
I'm not really sure I want to be looking to make contact with aliens who are pointing FRICKEN LASERS at us.
If one such laser beam would hit the earth, I don't think it would be a message like 'hi there, we are cute nice aliens from outher space and we are going to give you world peace!'. NO this alien death ray would mean something like 'Sheez, what a bunch of morons you puny earth dwellers are. Die die die!!1'. I would not bother building a giant listening post for that message. :/
You know it makes sense, a little reminder from jointm1k.
I found the message! Encoded in my own DNA! It says you should each send $50 to:
PO Box 1922
Anchron, OH
30544
Swear to god. Obey the aliens.
Beware blue cats moving at
And exactly since when do satellite uplink transmissions stop at the satellite? The uplink is a radio wave, albeit a directed one. It might still be possible to pick up an alien uplink signal.
Fuck... if aliens are anything like us, the signal is going to have DRM all over it.. you know, to ward off space pirates.
A light bulb is a non-directed optical source. By turning the light bulb on and off in morse code you would have a non-directed optical signal. :)
this genetic sequence is licensed under GLP...
If alien civilizations sent messages via live virii, presumably the spammers did so, too. So, we should be chock full of millions of alien messages like, "Buy V1agra!", "Hot Grits PRON", and "INTERGALLACTIC RING T0NEZ".
That should be easy enough to find -- just look for a sixty-something man getting pleasure from his cell phone.
how about we set up SETI to search for radioactivity residue slung into space ??
Sure, radioactive sludge thrown in space is a sure sign of intelligence.
- "They misunderestimated me."
as /. users rush to see who can excel the other at sophistry. The rules are simple.
Now, let the games begin!...just don't shoot the messenger.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I guess in Soviet Betelgeuse, messages from advanced alien civilisations read YOU! (wince - sorry, first ever slashism - and hopefully the last)
http://instantbadger.blogspot.com
I think the duck-billed platypus is all the proof we need that aliens have messed with Earth.
> Slashdot only supports the lower 128 bits/characters of ASCII
:)
With 128 bits, who needs Unicode anymore
1 -- you mean 'characters', not 'bits/characters'. 128-bit character sets will not be needed until we have to represent the languages of hyperintelligent alien races.
2 -- ASCII is a SEVEN bit standard, it only deals with 128 possible values. There is no 'non standardized upper half' of ascii. There _are_ many 8-bit character sets whose lower half is defined as 'same as ASCII'.
3 -- Nobody knows for sure why
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
> Meanwhile, Paul Davies writes that we should be conducting SETI in our DNA.
Let's see, we're looking for an unspecified message in an unknown language spelled out in an unknown coding... Yeah, I bet you can 'find' any kind of message you want in there, just like the silly Bible Codes thing. The only surprise is that k00ks haven't already been making their claims.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
You bullheaded humans think you have it all down pat, don't you?
The sad truth is that my planet found your planet from the leaked signal of an '802.11b' device owned by Dave Stewart in Provo, Utah as he was attempting to download a copy of Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear The Reaper song. But soon no other intelligence will be able to find your planet due to the decline in the P2P that was a beacon in the long dark night of space. You see, it's the legal dickering of the RIAA that is more a threat to your society than high powered lasers... so sad.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
¥€$
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Hi! How are you?
I send you this file in order to have your advice.
See you later. Thanks
...a post consisting only of a single non-alphabetic character, getting modded to +5.
Truly we live in amazing times.
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
oh yeah? well, take this! #
No no no! Aliens communicate through a series of large stone monoliths! Don't you guys pay attention?
"We shall party like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean." - HedonismBot
Or perhaps the only message we'll ever see from them would be a giant laser beam that instantly fries our planet, making everything in this discussion irrelevant.
:-)
Maybe that's how you get modded down on an interstellar slashdot as -5 flamebait
well, we all know what's programmed in there.
The answer is 42.
-- All your bass are below two Hz