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Crowd-Funded Radio Beacon Will Message Aliens

Posted by samzenpus on from the is-there-anybody-out-there? dept.

astroengine writes "In the hope of uniting people around the globe in a long-duration project to send a radio 'message in a bottle' METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) signal, a crowd-funded project utilizing a refurbished radio telescope in California has begun its work. Lone Signal is a project initiated by scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs to set up a continuous radio beacon from Earth. To support the operations of the Jamesburg Earth Station radio dish in Carmel Valley, Calif. (a dish built to support the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969), a crowd-funding effort has been set up so that for a small fee, users can send images to the stars. If you're content with sending a text message, your first message is free. The radio dish's first target is Gliese 526, a red dwarf star 18 light-years from Earth, but the project will be considering other stellar targets believed to be harboring habitable worlds."

196 comments

  1. I sure do hope.... by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Funny

    I sure do hope they get this right. It would be a shame if it turned out they created a intergalactic message like this.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    1. Re:I sure do hope.... by durrr · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't worry. I'm just going to send a copy of the book "How to Serve Man"

    2. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In all seriousness, there is absolutely no danger to this. The chemical signature of tasty biology on Earth has been visible to the nearby universe for hundreds of millions of years. Even the presence of an industrial civilization has been given away by sudden changes in the atmospheric composition over the last 150 years. The radio signal merely lets nearby observers know we are advanced enough to communicate by radio, and interested in doing so. There's no reason to assume it will make us more likely to be invaded by hostile aliens, and some reasons to believe the opposite: a technologically advanced civilization is logically more likely to be able to resist an invasion, and therefore more risky as a target. The invaders would most likely prefer a planet that can not defend itself with nuclear weapons.

    3. Re:I sure do hope.... by Molochi · · Score: 1

      That will screw will my plans to base a cookbook on them.

      --
      "The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
    4. Re:I sure do hope.... by EzInKy · · Score: 2

      Even the presence of an industrial civilization has been given away by sudden changes in the atmospheric composition over the last 150 years.

      It could be that the cleaning up of the mess industrialization caused could be the signal that our brains have ripened enough to be quite the delictable delights for the discerning alien palate. As for nuclear weapons, chances are they would be seen as the equivelant of bows and arrows to any civilazation far enough advanced.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    5. Re:I sure do hope.... by nickersonm · · Score: 2

      Perhaps such is the intention of our true overlords!

    6. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The nukes we have right now would only be a deterrent only to actual invaders (aliens who want to occupy the Earth while leaving humans alive, as a slave race or livestock or whatever). Against aliens who merely seek our annihilation, they are pathetically useless, due to their fragility, slow speed, short range, and lack of stealth capabilities.

      However, identifying ourselfes is more likely to keep us safe in that morally upstanding aliens (i.e. probably any that have overcome their internal conflicts to the point of being able to undertake interstellar travel) are less likely to accidentally squash us in some sort of industrial process. Not that we've ever detected any such processes so far.

    7. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As for nuclear weapons, chances are they would be seen as the equivelant of bows and arrows to any civilazation far enough advanced.

      REally? I see this idea popping up a lot on /. why should it be true? I am a physicist and unless aliens have super lasers or anti-matter weapons, nuclear weapons are up there in terms of destructive power. I mean we (humans) possess enough nuclear weaponry to make this planet extremely hazardous to life. Given that all life-sustaining planets are probably in the same size range as Earth, that makes us a pretty formidible foe if push comes to shove.

      To me the above statement just reeks of sci-fi-fan-dork...too much star trek rots the brain.

    8. Re:I sure do hope.... by EzInKy · · Score: 1

      Though I am a believer in science, I'm not as convinced as you are that our current science has so far exceeded the limatations of our intelict that it is unfallable.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    9. Re:I sure do hope.... by cold+fjord · · Score: 2

      There is certainly considerable merit in what you write. But allow me to present a different perspective for the sake of the argument. Consider the Fermi paradox and our observations of the universe so far. Although it is known that the universe is a very big place indeed, and it is thought that there must be many potentially habitable planets, in our very early and limited efforts we have yet to detect one apart from earth. It may be that they are rare, which would make life rare. If that turns out to be the case, any sort of signal created by a living intelligent being would be highly valuable in enabling other civilizations to locate the planet with life and a habitable environment, that is: earth. The fact that the civilization receiving the signal is intelligent says nothing about their values. Consider the diversity of civilizations on earth over the last 100 years. They have ranged from free and peace loving to extremely oppressive regimes that desired to commit genocide on their own population to extremely oppressive regimes that desired to commit genocide on other populations, and all manner of other combinations. The Soviet Union put the first human into space less than ten years after Stalin died and the horror was still fresh in the mind of Soviet citizens. There are still cultures today that practiced cannibalism within living memory. There are still some stone age cultures on earth at the same time as the US contemplates going to Mars, and has space probes at the edge of the solar system. There is no way of predicting what the value system of that alien civilization will be. The ones that could end up contacting the Earth may be the predator species that lured the highly advanced, peaceful, defenseless race to their planet and made them the slaves of the predators. The possession of neither an advanced technology level nor an advanced culture says anything about whether their culture will turn out to be one we find to be morally good and peaceful, and their society beneficial to contact. Still, it is exciting to consider, isn't it? Maybe they would turn out to be the equivalent of the mythical Star Trek era Vulcans coming in peace, as opposed to the earlier war-like Vulcan cultures. Let us hope that if we ever do make contact, it is in peace and friendship, and to our mutual benefit.

      As noted by this conservative author:

      ... so many people have asked how Germany, which produced Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, could also produce gas chambers -- as if producing great composers should in some way raise the moral level of that society. -- Much talent, little wisdom - Dennis Prager

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    10. Re:I sure do hope.... by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      Insightful and hilarious. Thanks!

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    11. Re:I sure do hope.... by cold+fjord · · Score: 1

      You're correct that the available weapons have considerable power, and that they render the surface of the earth hazardous where used. I do wonder about the possibility of an advanced space faring civilization having weapons that are more subtle in effect that could be used to their advantage. For example, something akin to the neutron bomb: kills the people, but does far less damage to the ecosystem and infrastructure. There may well be other effects that could be harnessed to produce a similar outcome given a more sophisticated knowledge of physics, or even biology. Consider this recent story on Slashdot: 9th Grade Science Experiment: Garden Cress Won't Germinate Near Routers There is still a lot to learn about physics and biology. Hopefully humanity will survive the learning process, and won't have unexpected unwelcome visitors before we're ready.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    12. Re:I sure do hope.... by BlueStrat · · Score: 2

      that makes us a pretty formidible foe if push comes to shove.

      See, here is where I think many are either failing to see or ignoring/dismissing an important real-world factor.

      Given that;

      1> Unless they're in some space federation/have regular interstellar contact with others they are just as clueless as we are as to how an alien race might react to detecting them with zero data.

      2> Given [1] above, there is realistically a 50/50 chance on whether or not they will react with hostility just as they see the same odds from their side regarding humanity.

      3> Given [1] & [2] above, the only safe move to assure that your species survives is to launch an immediate and extinction-level attack, one possibility being accelerating several sufficient-sized asteroids towards Earth (or the alien planet) so that by the time they arrive in the Sol system (or the alien's system), they're traveling at greater than a tenth of the speed of light.

      Since neither we nor they would know whether or not such an attack is on the way due to the centuries-long timeframes, logically specie survival would depend on detecting other races and destroying them first while remaining undetected.

      I'm not so sure that intentionally and pro-actively revealing our presence is such a great idea.

      It's like the question of what happens if someday a human starship encounters an alien starship out in space. If you return to Earth without destroying the alien ship, the aliens will know where our home system is and can launch an extinction-level attack. Same thing for them.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    13. Re:I sure do hope.... by marcosdumay · · Score: 2

      Fermi Paradox concludes that we shouldn't even exist, because the aliens should be already here before we had a chance to appear. It's extremely improbable that aliens are common enough for some of them to come here, but still rare enough for none be here already, as the Sun is quite young, and our galaxy could be colonized in just a few millions of years with ships moving in plausible speeds (the kind of speed the project Orion would acheve). Or, TLDR, there is likely nobody out there.

      Even then, this thing still bothers me. It's the perfect illustration that if people can do something stupid, somebody will. There is no upside to the project, just huge (extremely unlikely) downsides; yet, it's going ahead. There are plenty of other stupid things with huge downsides that we are getting able to do...

      --
      Rethinking email
    14. Re:I sure do hope.... by Scarletdown · · Score: 1

      It could be that the cleaning up of the mess industrialization caused could be the signal that our brains have ripened enough to be quite the delictable delights for the discerning alien palate. As for nuclear weapons, chances are they would be seen as the equivelant of bows and arrows to any civilazation far enough advanced.

      Odds are, their palates are rather undiscerning, and we would be more or less like chicken nuggets to them.

      --
      This space unintentionally left blank.
    15. Re:I sure do hope.... by 0111+1110 · · Score: 1

      Don't let it bother you because there is absolutely nothing that can be done to stop these sorts of projects. Anyone with a an advanced physics degree can figure out how to build a klystron or gyrotron and a small parabolic antenna based on existing documentation.

      I'm not sure why you claim there is no upside. The upside is obvious. Although it is very unlikely we cannot completely rule out the idea of not just life, but intelligent life of the sort that builds radio telescopes living at some nearby star like Gliese 581. The least we can do as intelligent creatures ourselves is to attempt communication. You at least should be willing to admit that it is pretty pathetic and cowardly if we are not even willing to make the slightest effort in that direction simply out of fear.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    16. Re:I sure do hope.... by icebike · · Score: 1

      I'm not so sure that intentionally and pro-actively revealing our presence is such a great idea.

      You are about 129 years to late to be worrying about that.

      Unless you find a way to run out 130 light years and disrupt Marconi's transmissions and all that followed, you would be better off trying convince those alien bad guys that we're really a swell bunch of party loving life forms who like fire works. Mostly harmless.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    17. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How to Cook & Serve Man By Kang & Kodos from Rigel 4.

    18. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This only works if you're the only two civilizations out there, or at least if you're the oldest and most powerful... but there's no possible way for you to know either of those things.

        If there are other civs sitting quietly out there among the stars, especially if they're older and larger, then lighting up some firecrackers to genocide another species is suicidal behavior, because it marks you out as a nasty, vicious little species that should be cleaned up before it spreads too far. Civs that are really ancient will probably have long ago developed ways of dealing with such space nazis that can be used quietly. In fact, this may contribute to the lack of signals out there among the stars.
        In this case, your safest bet is to put your best Carl Sagan forward and try to convince everyone who's listening that you're a really nice bunch of guys who'd like to make new friends. As long as some savage little up-and-comer species (who are going to get themselves wiped out shortly) doesn't listen to its own slashdotters and go all first-strike before the great powers get your message and come to inspect, you'll be fine.

    19. Re:I sure do hope.... by 0111+1110 · · Score: 3, Informative

      That is a myth more or less. Those transmissions would be damn lucky to make it to Pluto let alone another star. Maybe to Alpha Centauri if there is a kilometer scale dish there.

      Transmitting a signal to another star is non-trivial, uses a huge amount of power, and isn't likely to happen with unintentional leakage. You pretty much have to either aim a beam at a target or have an omnidirectional transmitter with truly immense power.

      James Benford, along with his twin brother Gregory Benford (Timescape etc) has written some fascinating papers on the subject from the POV of the sender and the receiver. Very well thought out stuff and required reading for any amateur METI projects. But this won't be the first intentional METI transmission anyway. Alexander Zaitsev has sent a number of messages at various targets already using a 70 meter radio telescope in the Ukraine. Those were relatively brief transmissions though. This project will be transmitting continuously. A pretty big difference, although one that would only matter to a pathetic, cowardly species.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    20. Re:I sure do hope.... by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      A pretty big difference, although one that would only matter to a pathetic, cowardly species.

      Pathetic and cowardly species? How about a species whose bottom line is survival in a very big and uncaring universe?

      *You* might be willing to bet the survival of all life on Earth on a completely-alien species' good will, that may not even be carbon-based, never mind having an intelligence that shares a sense of right & wrong, with absolutely no evidence, but I'm not so sure everyone else is OK with that. Or should be OK with that.

      Here's a thought: We may have already been hit by another intelligent species from another star system at least once, if not more.

      There may be some alien race out there that simply searches for and identifies planets around other stars that might support life and sends big rocks every several-hundred-thousand years to make certain that no threat from a sufficiently-advanced race ever has a chance to develop.

      I would say that the one thing almost all life in the universe shares is the instinct for and priority of survival first and foremost. That's a very dangerous thing when you're talking about first contact with an alien race.

      Extinction, possibly of all life on Earth, is the price for getting it wrong.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    21. Re:I sure do hope.... by icebike · · Score: 2

      Any species with the capabilities of "sending big rocks" wouldn't fear dinosaurs and rodents, nor fail to notice that their diabolic plan had failed so miserably.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    22. Re:I sure do hope.... by 0111+1110 · · Score: 2

      It's pretty much inevitable that someone is going to do this on any planet with intelligent life of the sort that can build radio telescopes. Short of a planetwide police state to detect such projects and eliminate them there's really not much that can be done to stop them.

      The chances of there being any intelligent life on a star within 100 or even 250 ly are astronomically small and 18 ly is so close that any highly advanced species would probably already have detected the oxygen/nitrogen/methane/water vapor etc in our atmosphere and would have been attempting to contact us either in person or via EM wave modulation.

      So why bother if it's so unlikely to succeed? Because we can and because we should at least make the effort to start eliminating nearby targets. Eventually, when we get to a search radius of a few hundred ly or so we may even succeed and then everything will change forever.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    23. Re:I sure do hope.... by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      Any species with the capabilities of "sending big rocks" wouldn't fear dinosaurs and rodents, nor fail to notice that their diabolic plan had failed so miserably.

      They wouldn't even have to know for sure there was even any life. Just pick planets that are likely candidates for life to develop. As long as there is not sufficient time between strikes for life to develop intelligence and a technological civilization, they're safe.

      Also, sending a "big rock", as in many miles in size, wouldn't be necessary. When you've got literally centuries to gain velocity, the size of the rock needed to create an extinction-level event decreases dramatically. Humans have the technology currently if we were to set our minds to actually doing it.

      You basically just get the thing moving in the right direction and use gravity wells along the way for the lion's share of acceleration. Course-correction would be the only real challenge, as systems would need to operate over centuries.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    24. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean "long pig"

    25. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How long until there is a class action suit to stop them from advertising?

      "Over 7 billion meals to go!"

    26. Re:I sure do hope.... by leonardluen · · Score: 1

      sure it might be hard to get more raw destructive power than a nuke, but if the aliens are advanced enough they could probably easily shoot our nukes out of the sky before they get within range and so have nothing to fear from them. that would be similar to trying to use bows and arrows against a tank.

      the current trend seems to be smaller but better targeted munitions. these can take out your target with little to no collateral damage and are even more difficult to stop as they are a much smaller target than say an ICBM. Bunkers can be built to withstand a nuclear blast, but if you build a missile that can burrow into the ground before exploding you can take out the bunker without needing a very large boom. Aliens would likely use small targeted munitions like this. why destroy the infrastructure when you can selectively disable it and leave most of it intact?

      so, i would wager the aliens would actually use weapons with a much smaller boom than us, and they may not even be nuclear, unless they just want to destroy the planet.

    27. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought Kang and Kodos were Klingon? Maybe we should ask John. (Yes, that's my journal, I can't log in right now)

    28. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A hundred years ago you probably would have said the same about dynamite.

    29. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those were relatively brief transmissions though. This project will be transmitting continuously. A pretty big difference, although one that would only matter to a pathetic, cowardly species.

      No, it would also matter to a species which insists on scientific confirmation. We've already received a single signal which might have been from another intelligence, the so-called wow signal. However it was never repeated, and therefore it didn't convince us of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. The same might happen if any alien civilization catches one of our one-time signals. Transmitting continuously makes a big difference in that respect.

    30. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, maybe we're the only ones in our galaxy because our planet was late in development, and all the other civilizations killed each other long before earth developed life.

    31. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's because all major activity happens in hyperspace. But then, as long as nobody tries to build a hyperspace bypass through our galaxy, we're safe.

    32. Re:I sure do hope.... by advantis · · Score: 1

      As for nuclear weapons, chances are they would be seen as the equivelant of bows and arrows to any civilazation far enough advanced.

      REally? I see this idea popping up a lot on /. why should it be true? I am a physicist and unless aliens have super lasers or anti-matter weapons, nuclear weapons are up there in terms of destructive power. I mean we (humans) possess enough nuclear weaponry to make this planet extremely hazardous to life. Given that all life-sustaining planets are probably in the same size range as Earth, that makes us a pretty formidible foe if push comes to shove.

      To me the above statement just reeks of sci-fi-fan-dork...too much star trek rots the brain.

      If I were an alien and saw a rocket heading my way, I think I'd use my super high mega giga tech to do this to it: flip its trajectory so it comes back to you. Let's see you flip it back. I'd probably EMP it just to be sure too. You'd be mighty busy trying to hit it with other rockets before it gets near you. Some foes we are.

      --
      Question for religious people: where do unrepentant masochists go when they die?
    33. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Consider this recent story on Slashdot: 9th Grade Science Experiment: Garden Cress Won't Germinate Near Routers

      That 9th grader still has a lot to learn about doing proper science.

    34. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the fuck is this? People beating up 9th graders for producing a science experiment that happened to get some media coverage?

      Take this in context. They're 9th graders and they did something pretty cool. It was thought provoking, so it got some media coverage. Then the nerd rage starts because you're jealous that they got some attention. Seriously- if there's a new article about a kid who did a art project with macaroni and glue, it would be like debating the merits of the type of pasta they used.

      Get your head examined if you want to feel superior because you can identify a few flaws in a 13 old's science project.

    35. Re:I sure do hope.... by icebike · · Score: 1

      Or just maybe interstellar travel is every bit as hard and unlikely as the scientists say it is.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    36. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or what if there are already aliens here? What if they've been here for a while? What if they have FTL travel?

      Have you looked up the Disclosure Project? I don't know if it's true, but it makes one wonder.

    37. Re:I sure do hope.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am not sure you can do anything that is not VERY MINOR course correction (practically speaking) at the energy levels we're discussing here. So the problem is actually one of the precision and accuracy of the initial launch mechanism.

  2. Alien Astronomers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They should read the Alien Astronomers on XKCD.
    http://whatif.xkcd.com/47/

    1. Re:Alien Astronomers by Somebody+Is+Using+My · · Score: 1

      I always preferred this explanation

      Anyway, I'm glad that these guys are doing this. That way when the inevitable alien invasion occurs, we'll know /exactly/ who to blame.
      (cue pedants reminding us that Earth has been spewing out radio signals for over a century).

    2. Re:Alien Astronomers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you serious? You linked to a crackpot forum where someone posted quotes from a famous short film? Why?

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaFZTAOb7IE

  3. why transmit drivel? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

    instead of text messages which have no inherent means of even being understood, why not transmit useful information about ourselves that we would wish aliens to send to us: pictures, society structure, arts, science...this was done to limited extent with the "pioneer plaque"; that's the direction we should be thinking

    1. Re:why transmit drivel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who decides what's "useful"? How do you fund it?

      This project solves BOTH of those problems at once.

    2. Re:why transmit drivel? by snowraver1 · · Score: 2

      How would an alien decode the .jpeg, .bmp, or whatever else we send them. I think we should send a message like in contact. Groups of pulses arranged in prime number sequences. It's distinct, it's easy to decode, and it would be near impossible to be natural.

      --
      Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. This comment may not be copied in any way including, but not limited to caching.
    3. Re:why transmit drivel? by Mitreya · · Score: 1

      How would an alien decode the .jpeg, .bmp, or whatever else we send them.

      Let's just send out BluRay streams. Everyone in the galaxy knows that these have to be licensed + players constantly updated, so the aliens will know what to do.

    4. Re:why transmit drivel? by hawguy · · Score: 1

      How would an alien decode the .jpeg, .bmp, or whatever else we send them.

      Let's just send out BluRay streams. Everyone in the galaxy knows that these have to be licensed + players constantly updated, so the aliens will know what to do.

      In the 18 years it will take for the signals to reach the alien civilization on Gliese 526, the MPAA's reach will include the entire Galaxy, and relations with the alien civilization will be soured when each member of their society is fined $150,000 and extradited to the USA for punishment after receiving the and decoding the movie stream.

    5. Re:why transmit drivel? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      You don't compress the image, you present pure sequence of pixels with scan line and frame completion markers as on the Voyager Golden Record. Have a look at it, the instructions to "play" the disk are engraved on the disk and are crystal clear even to young teen: I was 13 when I first saw it and system was obvious.

      Sure, start things out with your pulses, then go to diagrams and pictures like the Voyager Golden Record

    6. Re:why transmit drivel? by hawguy · · Score: 1

      Who decides what's "useful"? How do you fund it?

      This project solves BOTH of those problems at once.

      The same scientist(s) who came up with the "hailing message" with enough basic information to help the Aliens decode and understand the message.

      What good is sending thousands of random tweets? What are the aliens going to be with messages like "I luv aliens" and "f1rst post!". Even sending the contents of a random novel would be better since it would give a coherent sample of text that aliens could analyze to try to learn our language -- sending a large body of unrelated short messages (in multiple languages?) is not going to help.

      Why dilute the value of the data by sending along so much useless extraneous data from anyone willing to pay 99 cents to send it? If you believe it's important to send a message to aliens, it should be important enough to not send "garbage". The organizers should just ask for donations without promising to send messages.

    7. Re:why transmit drivel? by hawguy · · Score: 2

      You don't compress the image, you present pure sequence of pixels with scan line and frame completion markers as on the Voyager Golden Record. Have a look at it, the instructions to "play" the disk are engraved on the disk and are crystal clear even to young teen: I was 13 when I first saw it and system was obvious.

      Sure, start things out with your pulses, then go to diagrams and pictures like the Voyager Golden Record

      Crystal clear? Really?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sounds_of_Earth_Record_Cover_-_GPN-2000-001978.jpg

    8. Re:why transmit drivel? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      yes, that is trivial to understand the basic binary numbering system employed, play direction, and demarcation of scan line and frames.

      what would be hard to comprehend, on the other hand, is that business in lower left quadrant of location of earth by bearing to pulsars.

    9. Re:why transmit drivel? by hawguy · · Score: 1

      yes, that is trivial to understand the basic binary numbering system employed, play direction, and demarcation of scan line and frames.

      what would be hard to comprehend, on the other hand, is that business in lower left quadrant of location of earth by bearing to pulsars.

      I can't even pick out the 1's and 0's in that top waveform. Are the waveforms below it related to the top one? Why is the first part of the wave a perfect and uniform triangle wave followed by a clear and steady zero-level, then it degrades into a much noisier signal? What do I, I- and II mean? Do I rotate the disk clockwise or counter clockwise to read it?

    10. Re:why transmit drivel? by iggymanz · · Score: 2

      oh dear.

      I I- II are one, two, three. - is zero

      you should now be able to answer the rest of your questions.

    11. Re:why transmit drivel? by tftp · · Score: 1

      Why is the first part of the wave a perfect and uniform triangle wave followed by a clear and steady zero-level, then it degrades into a much noisier signal?

      This knowledge is lost along with the analog television. Clear and steady zero level is blanking interval, and the "noisier signal" is the analog video of the scan line.

      If you rotate the disk backward you will get the image flipped, and the sequence of the frames inverted (assuming that the recording is done in a spiral, and thus has only two ends.) An observer may be able to figure out which end is up even without hints.

    12. Re:why transmit drivel? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      You've got to read Year Zero by Rob Reid. It deals with just this sort of situation only with music instead of movies. Very clever and funny science fiction.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    13. Re:why transmit drivel? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      but analog tv not lost as long as that disk is around, the playback method and encoding is obvious

  4. We should stop this by countach · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am hereby setting up a crowd funded effort to bomb and destroy this radio dish. I don't want any aliens appearing on my front doorstep. We've all seen the movies, this never ends well.

    Seriously though, it seems to me incredibly arrogant and self centred for a private group of people to try and contact aliens, because the potential results of aliens turning up could be catastrophic, and that's a decision that all mankind should make together, not some private group.

    The only reason I'm not concerned is that I think this has precisely a zero point zero chance of success.

    1. Re:We should stop this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I am hereby setting up a crowd funded effort to bomb and destroy this radio dish. I don't want any aliens appearing on my front doorstep. We've all seen the movies, this never ends well.

      Seriously though, it seems to me incredibly arrogant and self centred for a private group of people to try and contact aliens, because the potential results of aliens turning up could be catastrophic, and that's a decision that all mankind should make together, not some private group.

      The only reason I'm not concerned is that I think this has precisely a zero point zero chance of success.

      Who the hell are you to stop them?

      Talk about "incredibly arrogant and self-centred"...

    2. Re:We should stop this by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      that's a decision that all mankind should make together

      Good luck getting a unanimous vote. Aside from that's it's still one group imposing their will on another.

      I still don't think opening it up for every message is a great way to run it, though.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    3. Re:We should stop this by xevioso · · Score: 1

      When was the last time "All Mankind" agreed on anything at all whatsoever, let alone whether or not to try to contact aliens?

      We've been sending out transmissions for decades now, much stronger than this. What harm can another few do?

      Most importantly, aliens won't detect us because of our signals...they will detect us based upon the signatures we've left on our atmosphere, which is how we are most likely going to detect life on other planets.

    4. Re:We should stop this by ClioCJS · · Score: 1

      ....Because of course all of mankind would agree unanimously.

      --
      -Clio
      Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
      Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
    5. Re:We should stop this by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 0

      Have you considered not being a cock for five minutes, that should sort out your problems.

    6. Re:We should stop this by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 1

      I see someone has been reading David Brin.

    7. Re:We should stop this by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 1

      The fact that so many people base their views on bad science fiction is why private groups need to. They're walking into the 'haunted house" for the people scared of ghosts.

      --
      Everything will be taken away from you.
    8. Re:We should stop this by Deadstick · · Score: 1

      What harm can another few do?

      ...that The Beverly Hillbillies hasn't already...

    9. Re:We should stop this by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 1

      >> We've all seen the movies

      Seen the movies? Hell, we've read the history books.

    10. Re:We should stop this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok, all of mankind is called to the meeting. Item 2 on the agenda, attempt to contact aliens or not? Item 1, agree on pizza toppings for the meeting. Problem solved.

    11. Re:We should stop this by hawguy · · Score: 1

      I am hereby setting up a crowd funded effort to bomb and destroy this radio dish. I don't want any aliens appearing on my front doorstep. We've all seen the movies, this never ends well.

      Seriously though, it seems to me incredibly arrogant and self centred for a private group of people to try and contact aliens, because the potential results of aliens turning up could be catastrophic, and that's a decision that all mankind should make together, not some private group.

      The only reason I'm not concerned is that I think this has precisely a zero point zero chance of success.

      Who the hell are you to stop them?

      Talk about "incredibly arrogant and self-centred"...

      What are you doing to do about the past 100 years of radio broadcasts (including high powered military radars) emanating from our planet? If the Aliens are looking for us, they don't need us to emit a beacon to find us.

    12. Re:We should stop this by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      leakage is a bit different than drinking from the firehose

    13. Re:We should stop this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was thinking the same, a group of a-holes that are trying to take advantage of the whole alien fiasco to make a quick buck.

      I believe scientists already have a program like this, and it involves several countries. On top that that since radio and tv broadcasts having been in service that too is getting beamed into space. And if Aliens have been listening to those, they are pretty much going to stay away.

      To go a little further if they have been visiting Earth, they've see the way we like to destroy each other and destroy our own planet, and pretty much how we hate anything we do not understand and then destroy it. To Aliens we are pretty much still idiot cavemen, who have yet to evolve.

    14. Re:We should stop this by 0111+1110 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Those radio broadcasts are unlikely to even make it to Alpha Centauri with reasonable sized recieving antennas. With planetary scale antennas it might be possible. The military radars are another story, but they would be randomly aimed and relatively infrequent and not transmitting any sort of coherent message.

      This wouldn't be the first attempt at METI. Alexander Zaitsev has sent a number of messages to various stars including Gliese 581 using his 70 meter RT-70 radiotescope located in Yevpatoria, Ukraine. He is the chief advocate for METI among professional astronomers and makes his case well I think.

      His messages were relatively brief however and are unlikely to be noticed even if there is an intelligent civ at one of his chosen targets. What would new is the idea of a full time, dedicated transmitter sending messages out 24/7/365 aimed for long periods, like say 6-12 months, at a single target so that if anyone is there listening there would be at least some chance of them noticing our signal.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    15. Re:We should stop this by 0111+1110 · · Score: 1

      I believe scientists already have a program like this, and it involves several countries.

      Well you are wrong. There is no long term METI program anywhere in the world. This would be the first full time, long term attempt at METI / ASETI.

      On top that that since radio and tv broadcasts having been in service that too is getting beamed into space. And if Aliens have been listening to those, they are pretty much going to stay away.

      They haven't because those signals are pretty much indistinguishable from noise even at a few light years away. Also, I think alien cavemen would be pretty interesting to us. At least some aliens would find us intriguing enough to study and maybe attempt to communicate with. The fact that we are so primitive and stupid might make us more interesting, not less.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    16. Re:We should stop this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I never understood the alien invasion thing, if you have access to the amount of energy required to launch an stellar invasion, then what is their of any possible value to you on earth. The resources on earth are valuable to us because they require very little energy to refine, if you have to fly from one star to another, then thats not the case any more. Also people often make reference to Europe invading the americas etc. But people didn't decide to go to america because they found out that they are people there, the people just happened to be in the way, if anything we should be letting aliens know we are here so they can have the chance to consider us when they build their hyper galactic highway.

    17. Re:We should stop this by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      Maybe this is the solution to the Fermi paradox, all the other aliens are hiding on their planets pissing themselves about imagined invaders too.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    18. Re:We should stop this by siddesu · · Score: 1

      Why such xenophobia? It is unlikely they'll hit anything at all, besides we already broadcast "We are the world" and "Startrek" years ago.

    19. Re:We should stop this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "...make it to Alpha Centauri with *OUR STYLE* reasonable sized recieving antennas."
      ftfy

    20. Re:We should stop this by hawkfish · · Score: 1

      This wouldn't be the first attempt at METI. Alexander Zaitsev has sent a number of messages to various stars including Gliese 581 using his 70 meter RT-70 radiotescope located in Yevpatoria, Ukraine. He is the chief advocate for METI among professional astronomers and makes his case well I think.

      I respectfully disagree. He seems frightfully naïve to me.

      Why does he think that no other civilisation has considered being the first to break the silence? Does he think that he is that much smarter than them? And while it may be true that asteroid avoidance is a beacon, who is to say that another mechanism may not be developed soon, especially if radio silence is considered more valuable as a means of ensuring our survival than asteroid detection? We may have spent the last 100 years shouting out our existence to the cosmos, but we are rapidly getting to the point where high-powered, omnidirectional broadcast transmissions are neither necessary nor efficient.

      So silence may soon be the norm, and I for one much prefer it to his starry-eyed faith in "reason" (which means nothing if the alien values are not compatible with our continued survival). He may feel lonely, but we still have much to learn from each other and our local environment to keep us busy before we need to risk encounters with another civilization.

      --
      You will not drink with us, but you would taste our steel? - Walter Matthau, The Pirates
    21. Re:We should stop this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      agreed. however not sure why stupid scientists think if anything is out there they are friendly and ready to hang out...

  5. Dangerous!! by instagib · · Score: 1

    I have an uneasy feeling with this.
    OK, maybe I just read/watched too much bad Science Fiction.
    Nevertheless, the message I'll send will be:

    "Nothing to see here, move along!"

    1. Re:Dangerous!! by Molochi · · Score: 1

      Howabout,

      "Hi, Do you have good taste? We'd like to serve you!"

      --
      "The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
    2. Re:Dangerous!! by c0lo · · Score: 1

      I have an uneasy feeling with this.

      Hook up the NSA Prism into this, that will keep the aliens away.

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    3. Re:Dangerous!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      somewhere deep inside the Prism data center...

      private: Sir, he is calling the aliens on Gliese 526 again.

      commander: Call up the MIB and have them erase his memory.

      private: but satellite imagery indicates he is wearing a tin foil hat, he will be immune to the memory wipe.

      commander: then mark him as a terrorist to get extra special treatment by the TSA on his flight on tuesday and then call up a drone strike if he does it again.

  6. Good Idea, or Not? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

    What if it turned out to be like a scantily-dressed 18-year-old female yelling "Here I am! Come get me!" in the middle of a crowd of bikers at Sturgis?

    1. Re:Good Idea, or Not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if it turned out to be like a scantily-dressed 18-year-old female yelling "Here I am! Come get me!" in the middle of a crowd of bikers at Sturgis?

      Well, here's hoping that we'll at least get a chance to pick one (exclusive) biker when they all show up?

      I do seriously agree with you. At least when the aliens find us on their own, there is a chance they'll be sufficiently advanced that they will not be looking for slaves/delicatessen organs/etc. But calling out is just asking for trouble.

    2. Re:Good Idea, or Not? by snowraver1 · · Score: 1

      We are calling out every day with both omnidirectional broadcasts and high intensity beams that are aimed at satellites.

      --
      Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. This comment may not be copied in any way including, but not limited to caching.
    3. Re:Good Idea, or Not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When the aliens come, we give them hollywood and call it even.

    4. Re:Good Idea, or Not? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      "We are calling out every day with both omnidirectional broadcasts and high intensity beams that are aimed at satellites."

      Yes, but those aren't the same as something designed specifically to get attention. Those are more like graffiti in an alley, as opposed to this idea, which is more like a giant billboard.

  7. I'm with Hawking here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," -Stephen Hawking

  8. i would be more impressed the other way around by NemoinSpace · · Score: 1

    Try STOPPING the continuous radio assault the earth commits on the rest of the universe.
    Even aliens can't stand the guy who never shuts up to let them get a word in edgewise.

    1. Re:i would be more impressed the other way around by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try STOPPING the continuous radio assault the earth commits on the rest of the universe.
      Even aliens can't stand the guy who never shuts up to let them get a word in edgewise.

      Humans: the loud, obnoxious, "I'm-more-important-than-you" asshole with a cellphone in the movie theater of the universe.

      Hmm, dark theater. I should just grab the phone, smash it, and run.

    2. Re:i would be more impressed the other way around by tftp · · Score: 1

      Most of terrestrial communications on VHF and above is done with antennas that don't radiate much into space. HF and longer wavelengths reflect from ionosphere and don't leave Earth. Most unintended transmissions don't have enough power to be detected outside of the Solar system, and they don't employ noise-resistant coding.

      However if you take a 60 dBi dish, shove a kilowatt or ten into the feed, and slowly modulate the signal with error correction codes, that transmission might be detectable from a larger distance - depending on how much gain the receiving antenna has.

  9. I sure hope they moderate these... by TiggertheMad · · Score: 1

    Several ideas for my first free message: 1) Anally Probable monkeys here, $15 each. (I'll be rich!) 2) Earth thinks you are a pack of 6 eyed jerks, and challenges you to a fight. 3) WE CLAIM THE WESTERN ARM OF THE GALAXY, AND DOMINION OVER ALL WHO DWELL THERE. How is this whole project NOT a bad idea on every level?

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
    1. Re:I sure hope they moderate these... by xevioso · · Score: 1

      Because other people will send out messages entirely different and opposite to that. So the Aliens will see reasonable messages and unreasonable ones, leading them most likely to do nothing more than be exceedingly amused.

    2. Re:I sure hope they moderate these... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      Or think that Earth is home to a bunch of idiots and decide to cleanse the planet before the idiocy spreads.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  10. goatse by danlip · · Score: 2

    enough said

    1. Re:goatse by TWX · · Score: 1

      (translated Alien speech)

      "I didn't think there was a Nebula over there... Who's sending that to us?"

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  11. Get Your Space Lizard Snacks! by blarkon · · Score: 1

    The reason there aren't a whole lot of beacons detected by SETI is pretty clear. Every time someone lights up a beacon, the Space Lizard Starfleet turns up in orbit and it's buffet time. Beacons are like an evolutionary test. The races that send them out end up as lunch. The races that keep quiet get to live another day.

  12. Language barrier by Livius · · Score: 1

    It's hard to see how there's anything useful in sending disjointed messages without at least providing a primer on English or whichever Earth language the messages are going to be in. Something like transmitting all of Wikipedia and Project Gutenburg so there's a big enough sample of the language so they have a chance of deciphering it.

    1. Re: Language barrier by Jeremi · · Score: 2

      This all assumes that large-scale interstellar space travel is economically feasible for a sufficiently advanced civilization.

      It's just as likely that it isn't (eg sending the Lizard Armada to another star requires way more energy than the Lizards are willing to spend, even if we are delicious) and therefore we as a species are safe wrt being eaten.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    2. Re: Language barrier by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That sho' is a lot of assumptions.

    3. Re: Language barrier by gottabeme · · Score: 1

      It used to take months or years to circle the earth. Now it takes hours. And a few days' wages.

      --
      "Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
  13. The only creatures who will be listening... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only creatures who will be listening will be the NSA.

    1. Re:The only creatures who will be listening... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The NSA already has expanded to Gliese 526?

      Oh wait, now I get it: The NSA is from Gliese 526!

  14. Proper lead account for? by KitFox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Rookie error #3: Point the radio transmission directly at the star.

    Unless the target is moving directly toward or away from us relatively speaking, pointing it at the star will target where the star was 36 light years before the transmission will arrive. If it -is- moving directly toward or away, are they accounting for Doppler?

    --

    @Whee

    1. Re:Proper lead account for? by Xyrus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Of course, rookie error #1 is getting involved in a land war in Asia and rookie error #2 is going in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

      All kidding aside, I'm not sure I like this idea. It's not really a good idea to announce your presence in an area where the natives could be restless and you could be considered "tasty".

      --
      ~X~
    2. Re:Proper lead account for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it is moving directly towards us, maybe we should get the hell out of the way.
      If it's moving directly away from us... I don't know, try some deodorant?

    3. Re:Proper lead account for? by dpidcoe · · Score: 1

      If they were advanced enough to send a ship here to fight us, they'd be advanced enough to already realize that we were here. Short of FTL (not likely), reaction-less drives (even more unlikely), or something like the park shift from enders game, any ship they send would have to spend something on the order of hundreds of years getting here. Assuming that whatever was sent arrived (and was still in fighting condition), it would be facing whatever technology we manage to develop 100 years from now. It would also have one shot at doing enough damage to kill everyone on earth. Otherwise they would be facing the threat of very pissed off remnants of humanity united in developing the technology to send their own attack back in the other direction.

    4. Re:Proper lead account for? by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      Rookie error #1 - pedantic posting about stuff he doesn't understand.

      Stars move slowly, and radio transmissions (even relatively tight beamed ones) spread out the farther they get from the source - and 18LY is a very long way away.

      Not to mention the dangers of assuming too much from a very simple statement - like exactly where the antenna will be pointing.

    5. Re:Proper lead account for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's a 30-metre antenna. If they're transmitting radio waves with (say) 3 cm wavelength, the beam will be 0.001 radians ~= 0.05 degrees across. For the star to get out of this beam before the signal arrives, it needs to be travelling at over 0.001 of the speed of light, which is ridiculously fast for a star. So, pointing straight at the star isn't a problem.

      Doppler shifting isn't a problem, either. It's only important if your transmitter and receiver have been tuned to exactly the same frequency; and aliens aren't going to know the frequency of our transmitter anyway. (That is, they'll have to sweep across a wide range of frequencies to find it anyway, so a small Doppler shift isn't going to make a difference.)

    6. Re:Proper lead account for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You seem to be imagining some kind of sci-fi space battle with an ancient alien warship facing off against whatever shiny fleet of toys we develop in the next few centuries. Here's a hint: Having spent vast amounts of energy to accelerate through the void to get to us, why the hell would genocidal aliens bother spending even more energy to slow down at their destination? Just to give us a chance to shoot at them? Unlikely.

      If an alien civilisation hears the signal (unlikely) and decides that having another technologically advanced civilisation in the neighbourhood is something they don't want (likely - game theory predicts this) then all they have to do is fire something fairly big, rather dense and very very fast directly at Earth. Give it a guidance computer, an ion drive and some manoeuvring thrusters for final approach, job done. Send two or three, just to be sure, and a few more for Mars, Venus and the Moon.

      Assuming a decent, continuous power source (quite an assumption) it could get up to a useful fraction of c in the centuries it takes to get here. No lasers, no photon torpedoes, no nukes, no Battle of Britain in space, no army of mechasuited little green men landing in Times Square with shrink rays... just a big old lump of uranium with enough kinetic energy to make the dinosaur-killer asteroid look like a mosquito bite. Given enough speed, even with the technology of 2100 or 2200 or 2500 it would be very hard for us to detect it in time to destroy/ deflect it.

      http://what-if.xkcd.com/47/

    7. Re:Proper lead account for? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's also impolite to be the only one at the party sitting in the corner gazing at your navel cos your to scared of everyone else there... or so my therapist says.

    8. Re:Proper lead account for? by dpidcoe · · Score: 1

      Yes, I fully understand the power of a fast moving dense object. The problem is accelerating it to get here.

      If they were using ion drives, they'd need to use basically all of the xenon (and other similar elements) in their solar system in order to undertake the project. By the time whatever rock they flung gets close enough to detect earth with any degree of accuracy in terms of aiming (and this will be on the order of hundreds of years from now), it may not even have enough time to alter its course for impact due to how little thrust an ion drive can put out (saving chemical thrusters for until the end may or may not be useful just because every bit of mass in this thing would count against its end speed, it would be a big waste to dump significant mass in the end rather than the beginning). And this is assuming that the ion drive or chemical thrusters even still work after hundreds of years of interstellar travel (the most we've done with an ion drive is 5 years continuous operation on the NEXT, and it used a measurable fraction of the xenon available to earth, that stuff is rare).

      It's also quite possible that in several hundred years we'll have advanced to the point where we can fling things back at it, and the advantage will be with us because we know exactly where it's going to be if its targeting earth. And because we don't need to go as far to put things in front of it, we can lob bigger projectiles with a better chance of hitting it and altering its course enough to make it matter.

      Also, flip the situation around and imagine it was us who received a signal. Would all of humanity unite to go and dump the resources of our solar system into flinging some asteroids towards a star that we think might have life on it? We'd probably think it was cool, news media would cover it 24/7 until they got bored (I give it 2 weeks tops), religious figures would argue about it, conspiracy theorists would go nuts, and then in a few months the only people who would still care would be the nerds and scientists. The most we'd probably do is point all of our sensing equipment in that direction and speculate wildly what they were like.

  15. Danger! Keep away! by mtrachtenberg · · Score: 1

    I'm all for METI as long as it's honest.

  16. Let's send them by TheGoodNamesWereGone · · Score: 1

    a cookbook!

  17. Codebreaking challenge? by hawguy · · Score: 1

    They should release the binary contents of the haling message and message content as a codebreaking challenge and see if anyone here on earth can decode it.

    1. Re:Codebreaking challenge? by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

      Here you go: 01101000 01110100 01110100 01110000 00111010 00101111 00101111 01110111 01110111 01110111 00101110 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110100 01110101 01100010 01100101 00101110 01100011 01101111 01101101 00101111 01110111 01100001 01110100 01100011 01101000 00111111 01110110 00111101 01000100 01000101 00101101 00111000 01111001 01001111 00110011 01100110 01101110 01001010 00110100

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
    2. Re:Codebreaking challenge? by hawguy · · Score: 1

      Here you go: 01101000 01110100 01110100 01110000 00111010 00101111 00101111 01110111 01110111 01110111 00101110 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110100 01110101 01100010 01100101 00101110 01100011 01101111 01101101 00101111 01110111 01100001 01110100 01100011 01101000 00111111 01110110 00111101 01000100 01000101 00101101 00111000 01111001 01001111 00110011 01100110 01101110 01001010 00110100

      Those are going to be some pretty pissed off aliens, maybe they really are going to come and destroy us.

    3. Re:Codebreaking challenge? by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

      But who could reject such a sincere message of honesty and dedication?!

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
  18. moon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why does'nt our moon have life?

    1. Re:moon by hawguy · · Score: 1

      why does'nt our moon have life?

      It may, there could still be dormant microbes leftover in the garbage we've left behind.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/bacteria-survive-nearly-three-years-on-the-moon/9931.html

  19. 4chan by reiter.john · · Score: 1

    And no one sees how bad this is going to be once 4chan/b/ gets ahold of this? They will be trolling the stars on day one.

  20. Has anyone of those people ever thought about by fisted · · Score: 1

    how much time it will take until the transmission even arrives 'somewhere'? This story is bullshit.

    --
    CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
    1. Re:Has anyone of those people ever thought about by dpidcoe · · Score: 1

      Yes, it will take 18 years in the case of Gliese 526. What's the problem here?

    2. Re:Has anyone of those people ever thought about by fisted · · Score: 1

      Well they better be listening on Gliese 526 then, because most other targets are slightly more distant.

      --
      CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
    3. Re:Has anyone of those people ever thought about by dpidcoe · · Score: 1

      So it'll take 100 years then, does it matter? It's not like we're going to have packed up and left without a trace before then.

  21. Something tells me... by denzacar · · Score: 1

    It will be more like a scantily-dressed 18-year-old female yelling "Here I am! Come get me!" in the middle of an ocean, with nothing but said ocean in sight.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  22. What if they are predators? by Rubinhood · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can the senders please make sure that if those guys are predators, the rest of us are safe. Thanks.

    As a side note, I tend to feel strangely unsure that such things are a good idea when unknown extraterrestrials receive more attention than starving 3rd world fellow terrestrials.

    1. Re:What if they are predators? by mwissel · · Score: 1

      Enough with those laughable concerns already.

      This transmission goes to a star 18 light years away from us. Assuming for a second that "they" - if there were any - needed no preparation time and could travel at almost light speed, it would take them at least half a century to show up (you have to accelerate and decelerate near start and destination). Look at the technological advancements humanity made during that last timespan. It might be more a threat to them to come here than they would be for us.

      Let alone the ridiculous amount of energy needed to travel such a distance. All that to "feed" upon us or mine some resources? Fairly arrogant self perception there. When have you ever seen a lion running all the way from South Africa to Sweden to feed off an elk?

      And for your side note, what was the last thing YOU have done to support 3rd world? Oh, you haven't? Thought so.

    2. Re:What if they are predators? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, he supported the third world by not sending transmissions to the stars. Isn't that enough? ;-)

  23. The jungle is a dangerous place by Beeftopia · · Score: 1

    The deep ocean is a dangerous place. The jungle is a dangerous place.

    To think whatever might be lurking in deep space is all warm and fuzzy, ready to submit to our dominion, or tenderly treat us like children, eager to school us in the secrets of the universe, seems a bit naive.

    1. Re:The jungle is a dangerous place by hawguy · · Score: 1

      The deep ocean is a dangerous place. The jungle is a dangerous place.

      To think whatever might be lurking in deep space is all warm and fuzzy, ready to submit to our dominion, or tenderly treat us like children, eager to school us in the secrets of the universe, seems a bit naive.

      You'd have a much better chance of thrusting your hand in the ocean at random and retrieving a fish than pointing a radio telescope at a random star system and finding an intelligent civilization

    2. Re:The jungle is a dangerous place by stenvar · · Score: 1

      Professor Donald Kessler: We know they're extremely advanced technologically, which suggests - very rightfully so - that they're peaceful. An advanced civilization, by definition, is not barbaric.

      Martian Translator Device: We come in peace! We come in peace!

    3. Re:The jungle is a dangerous place by tftp · · Score: 1

      An advanced civilization, by definition, is not barbaric.

      So what is the Skynet, not an advanced civilization or not barbaric?

      There could be civilizations that don't even realize that chemical compounds may interlink to support life. There could be civilizations to which we are microscopic creatures; or the other way around. We destroy bacteria in most places where we come across them, and if they attract our attention we just do it faster.

      There may be civilizations that define the word "barbaric" differently. We had those here, on Earth - Aztecs, for example. Not even mentioning many examples from the 20th century.

    4. Re:The jungle is a dangerous place by marcosdumay · · Score: 1

      You seem to have lost the movie reference, so let me clarify...

      Woosh!

      Yeah, I think that's the sound of their guns.

      --
      Rethinking email
    5. Re:The jungle is a dangerous place by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Ack ack!

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    6. Re:The jungle is a dangerous place by stenvar · · Score: 1

      Don't run! We are your friends!

    7. Re:The jungle is a dangerous place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, we have to do a preventive strike: Send up the Indian Love Call!

  24. The reply will arrive post singularity, if at all. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So nothing we can say about ourselves now will be relevant unless will simply state that we expect it to happen soon. So how do we succinctly express an intelligible message that says "Hi we are an intelligence that is about to go through a singularity and that is all we will know about what we will be when your reply gets back to us."

    If we do this I suspect that any reply will be, "OK, good luck with that."

  25. Indians... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why do I have this indelible image in my mind... a bunch of Indians come together and crowd-source wood to build a big bonfire on the shore - hoping it may be a guiding beacon to travelers coming from far out at sea.

    Anytime two societies meet, it usually doesn't end well for the less advanced one. They could possibly come in star ships...we can barely put a man in orbit.

    1. Re:Indians... by hawguy · · Score: 2

      Why do I have this indelible image in my mind... a bunch of Indians come together and crowd-source wood to build a big bonfire on the shore - hoping it may be a guiding beacon to travelers coming from far out at sea.

      Anytime two societies meet, it usually doesn't end well for the less advanced one. They could possibly come in star ships...we can barely put a man in orbit.

      An Alien civilization that can cross the Galaxy in a Starship to come see us is probably not going to find any natural resources or living space that they can't already find elsewhere. There'd be little reason to take over Earth, unless they see us as a threat, and that's doubtful.

    2. Re:Indians... by Livius · · Score: 1

      That makes so much sense...

      On the other hand travelling to the New World wasn't profitable the first voyage either.

    3. Re:Indians... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Though the europeans was poorly informed about america. I doubt aliens with FTL capability are that stupid.

    4. Re:Indians... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a lot of assumptions, little man.

    5. Re:Indians... by gottabeme · · Score: 1

      Europe seems large compared to any one of its nations.

      Europe seems small compared to North America.

      What if "they" prefer living on real planets, and what if they have a market for exotic new vacation destinations?

      --
      "Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
  26. Why contact them? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

    I thought the conventional wisdom on this is that we shouldn't be sending them messages, but we should be listening? At least that's what Stephen Hawking says.

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    1. Re:Why contact them? by 0111+1110 · · Score: 1

      Do you have any idea how unlikely it is that there is someone listening at Gliese 526 or any other target less than100 light years from us? I'm guessing that you don't. BTW, Hawking is simply wrong about this issue.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    2. Re:Why contact them? by gottabeme · · Score: 1

      Being struck by lightning is highly unlikely, except to those who are struck by lightning.

      Probability proves nothing.

      --
      "Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
  27. Aliens are not Friendly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been battling the aliens using unmanned combat systems on SC2 for eons. Believe me, they are not friendly.

  28. Dude ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't give away our position !

  29. Planetary Resources Arkyd-100 Space Telescope by sanman2 · · Score: 2

    It's great that Slashdot is giving coverage to the above story, but how come they're not giving timely coverage to the fact that Planetary Resources has announced a new Stretch Goal for their existing Kickstarter campaign:

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1458134548/arkyd-a-space-telescope-for-everyone-0

    They're promising that if the new $2M fund-raising goal is crossed, they'll use the extra funds to upgrade their Arkyd-100 Space Telescope to search for exo-planets. This is a fantastic idea, especially given the recent breakdown of NASA's Kepler planet-finding probe.

    I hope you will all consider pledging some money to this fine Kickstarter campaign too, because finding more of those alien worlds will help to expand our horizons and our aspirations of the future.

    1. Re:Planetary Resources Arkyd-100 Space Telescope by lxs · · Score: 1

      Probably because you either haven't submitted the story or because your submission has been voted down by the readers.

    2. Re:Planetary Resources Arkyd-100 Space Telescope by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      It's great that Slashdot is giving coverage to the above story...

      Hasn't Adolph Hitler beaten them to it by about 80 years?

      --
      No sig today...
    3. Re:Planetary Resources Arkyd-100 Space Telescope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nope. Oblig XKCD: http://what-if.xkcd.com/47/

  30. Einstein was right by slick7 · · Score: 1

    Einstein was right, you can't solve problems at the same level in which they were created. The greatest transmitter is the human body. It can span time distance and dimensions. All you gotta do...is get on the same frequency. Everyone.

    --
    The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
  31. Brilliant! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Asks for money to fund project that can never, ever be proven to customers to justify getting there money.

    Fuck Im going to start a crowd funding program where I yell into the ocean for 1 million dollars to tell sea monsters messages from my supporters.

  32. Monsters are coming by Tekoneiric · · Score: 1

    Yea, with how crappy humanity is to each other and other species on this planet; the beacon needs to send this quote from The Doctor "Run and hide, because the monsters are coming - the human race."

    --
    *It's not what you can do for the Dark Side but what the Dark Side can do for you!*
  33. you joke, but... by foreverdisillusioned · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is at best a waste of money. I know he catches some flak for this, but Stephen Hawking has it right. There's no reason at all we should expect intelligent alien life forms to deal with us as respected equals, especially if they are considerably more advanced. At the same time, it would be too much to hope for them to ignore us. Our planet would be a treasure trove of scientific interest to them, and even practical interest in the same way rainforests are useful to biochemists or bacteria are useful to genetic engineers. The altruism argument ignores how very limited it is here on Earth. Forget intercultural conflict, how many people give/gave a shit enough about dead dolphins enough to boycott tuna? Or save the poor bonobos? Their intelligence is a lot closer to ours than ours would be to any life form advanced enough to travel the stars (unless they had some kind of taboo on both genetic and cybernetic enhancement.) Overall point being: altruism isn't a prerequisite for advanced spaceflight, but relentless pragmatism is.

    Fortunately, what with the speed of light being what it is, this shouldn't be of any immediate concern.

    Also, I think there's a recent 'obligatory' xkcd that's quite on-topic here if anyone wants to whore some karma. In the what if section.

    1. Re:you joke, but... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      > I know he catches some flak for this, but Stephen Hawking has it right.

      No he doesn't.

      In 10 years you will have proof that a) we are not alone, b) they look very similar to us, c) our fear of _them_ keeps them away as they know the true human potential whereas we are still ignorant & blind.

    2. Re:you joke, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you are incorrect. We will eventually be able to travel the stars. Will that make us more intelligent? No. We will have more technological experience, just as we have more than we did 100 years ago. We're not smarter as a species, just more experienced. An alien race that can travel here probably just has a few hundred years experience on us, and may value the same things we do.

    3. Re:you joke, but... by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Except that the star they are pointing it at is 18 light years away. So at best it will be 36 years before they'll be able to send get a signal back to us. That's assuming they detect the signal right away, and have the capability to send another message back to us. The planet that receives the signal may have intelligent life, but they may be a little behind us in terms of scientific knowledge. We've only had radio for less that 150 years, but humans have been around for 195,000 years, and the earth is 4.5 billion years old. That's a pretty small percentage of human history that radio has existed, even smaller if you're looking at the age of the planet. Who's to say we won't move past radio at some point, or that the radio spectrum won't be so polluted that we won't be able to detect such a weak signal from a far off star.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    4. Re:you joke, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you elaborate? Are you getting this from books or the Internet or the Disclosure Project or...?

      Some people think that some of them do indeed look like us and have been here for a while.

  34. be like voyager by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    put a bunch of new age mystical hippy bullshit on it

  35. No license is trust license by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    No license means the owner concede no right at all to the user. This is in fact an unspoken trust license: do whatever with it and trust me to not sue you.

    This should drive corporations away because of the legal risk and just keep end user that do not care about IP laws

  36. Did anyone else read the title as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Crowd-funded radio bacon?

    1. Re:Did anyone else read the title as by PPH · · Score: 1

      Mmmmmm! Bacon!

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  37. I feel like Frodo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..when it comes to all of our transmissions.. PUT IT OUT YOU FOOLS, PUT IT OUT! ..It's probably too late. It's not just that they'll know we're here either. And the first thing they'll all see? ....Fucking Adolf Hitler.

  38. Real life Battleship by KVM · · Score: 1

    Hopefully they put the satellite dish on a satellite or another planet, else this will end up like a real life Battleship where they send out radio message and aliens comes to the dish

  39. Honest Is The Best Policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I *will* send this message:

    "We're going to find your planet and kill you and consume your resources unless you kill us first."

    I'll figure out how to encode it and get it past the gatekeepers eventually.

  40. let me start another project by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    Maybe I should crowdfund/crowdsource/kickstart/Angelfire/Tripod/Zynga a project to hire that blonde guy with the giant teeth from Contact to blow up the telescope. You know, since it's a really stupid idea to tell aliens we're here. That's the consensus from intelligent people at least.

  41. MUF & LUF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are a few misconceptions I need to clear up...

    (1) TV and Radio signals usually do not escape our atmosphere, since they are between the MUF and the LUF. (Maximum Usable Frequency which bounces off the ionosphere and is reflected back to Earth; Least Usable Frequency which bounces off the ionosphere and is reflected back to Earth.)

    (2) WiFi is another matter. Due to FCC incompetence, we have been blasting space with 2.4GHz signals for years now. It's too late to exercise any control over who knows we are here.

  42. Priority Override by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Must break target into component materials.

  43. Only travels so far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Even shouting at the top of our lungs, (or to the limits of the electricity capability of the radio signal), that signal will only reach out a few light-years before fading into oblivion again.

    What we SHOULD do is set up a network of radio receivers throughout the solar system, and use their combined strength to send a much more powerful signal, and possibly receive a more powerful signal as well.

    Like this, but bigger:
    http://www.resonancepub.com/images/Radio_Telescope11.gif

    Of course, money and all that gets in the way.

    1. Re:Only travels so far by gatkinso · · Score: 1

      I read somewhere that using current technology we would be able to detect some very powerful military radars (like used in antiballistic missile systems) from over 100 light years away... if it was pointed at us.

      --
      I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
    2. Re:Only travels so far by 0111+1110 · · Score: 2

      I've actually done the math (link budget calculations) and a 30 meter radio telescope is actually large enough to reach quite a bit further than Alpha Centuari. With an adequately powerful transmitter (a minimum power output of something like 300 kW with sufficiently long pulses (>= 0.3 milliseconds) and a sufficiently narrow band signal Gliese 581, at 20.3 ly, is well within its reach. With a megawatt you could get even quite a bit further than that. At least out to 50-60 ly. Of course a lot depends on the size of the dish on the othe end. This assumes a dish on the other end of only 30-60 meters or so and a frequency up in the X band at 9-12 Ghz as well as a relatively short attenuating journey through our atmosphere by aiming at less than 45 degrees from the zenith. Since it's quite likely that there will be multi-kilometer scale dishes on the other end this should be quite conservative. Unfortunately I haven't seen any numbers on the power of their transmitter. That information as well as the transmission frequency, pulse length, and bandwidth are all key to how far their signal will reach. For short pulse lengths (microseconds) and the resulting wide bandwiths you'd need a gigawatt scale transmitter, although the average power would be quite a bit less.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
    3. Re:Only travels so far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Duga arrays emitted something on the order of 1MW continuously, with peak power in the (tens of?) megawatts. The US version (Safeguard) is similarly powerful.

  44. They stole my project. by 0111+1110 · · Score: 1

    What they are doing is similar to what I want to do.

    1. Build minimum 350 kW, 10 Ghz, long pulsed, pulse position modulated, Klystron / Gyrotron.
    2. Build parabolic dish 20 meters or larger in diameter. Ideally at a latitude where your most important target star passes right above (at your zenith).
    3. Aim dish at Gliese 581 or other interesting targets within 30-50 ly.
    4. Profit ???
    5. After round trip time, if you are still alive, listen for a response.

    We do need to make a profit in order to sustain the operating costs in order to keep doing it."

    Ruh roh. I wonder what their "operating costs" are. Just the electricity to run the transmitter or are we talking salaries? Apparently someone bought the site that includes the beautiful fully driven 30 meter dish for something like 3 million.

    I'd love to know what they are using for a transmitter and what frequency and modulation system they are planning. Pulsed or CW? Not really a lot of info in these press releases.

    --
    Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
  45. Gold Here! by Bayoudegradeable · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Perhaps it will sound like this: Greetings Mr. Cortez! You are searching for gold, we are having it! Please visit our lovely Aztec mines. You will love our gold! Have a nice time with our women while you are at it. Please, cross the ocean and come visit us. We don't even have gunpowder! We don't have resistance to small pox either! See us soon!

    Or perhaps.... Hey Spike! Wanna go dig up some bones?!

    --
    Sig Registration Form 34c_766(a) submitted to Ministry of Signature Management. Approval pending.
    1. Re:Gold Here! by SlashGordon · · Score: 1

      I'd suggest, "Dear Friend, I am an Earth Prince and need to transfer $20 million to your personal bank account . . ."

    2. Re:Gold Here! by CHIT2ME · · Score: 1

      Maybe every message should start with; "Hi! We humans taste bad"!!!!

      --
      My karma is bad. Don't get too close!!!
  46. The reply by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1
    And then we get the reply:

    This is a new phone, I don't have anyone's numbers. Who's this?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  47. Sshhhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Keep quiet - I don't think any alien race is going to like us. SRSLY, think about what humanity is doing to itself, to earth and others (animals, plants, ...).

    I'd erradicate the whole planet if I was an alien.

  48. Translation . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come eat us.

  49. Red Dwarf? by Toshito · · Score: 1

    My first message will be:

    Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!

    --
    Try it! Library of Babel
  50. Stupid idea by gatkinso · · Score: 1

    1) No idea if they will be nice. Simply no way to tell.

    2) What makes them think they can speak for me, or for the rest of humanity for that matter?

    --
    I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
    1. Re:Stupid idea by arfonrg · · Score: 1

      Agreed! THERE IS NOT ONE SPECIES OF PLANT OR ANIMAL THAT IS NOT PREDATORY and to think that aliens (with a technological advantage) would be 'kumbaya' is sheer idiocy.

      --
      Your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
  51. Jodie? by Frankie70 · · Score: 1

    I was 13 when I first saw it and system was obvious.

    Are you Jodie Foster?

    1. Re:Jodie? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      Jodie is one year and three months older than me. but she started in acting at age 3. I started in my interests at later age, with electronics at 10.

  52. Yoohoo, beasties, come an eat us. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When you run into a room, and all those older and wiser than you are silent and watchful and afraid, maybe you should shut up.

  53. Kzinti - Dinner Bell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So can we just call this "The Kzin Dinner Beacon" ?

  54. What the aliens will see by advantis · · Score: 1

    "We've discovered a new tiny pulsar orbiting a main sequence star. It's located in the habitable zone of Sol. We'll call it Sol-III. We find it fascinating that we found a pulsar where we expected a planet. One so tiny too. This paper will get us the Nobelzebyx prize in Astronomy! We'll be rich!"

    --
    Question for religious people: where do unrepentant masochists go when they die?
  55. Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    2) What makes them think they can speak for me, or for the rest of humanity for that matter?

    Because they are special and important!

  56. Liberals... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Liberals in America have been broadcasting to aliens for years! "Come over to America! Drain our system! No documents needed!" And it was crowd-funded (tax based) for years!!!

    Think I'm a troll? What if Americans started mass immigration to France, England, German, Canada. Bet they'd be a little ticked too that us Yanks would drain their systems.

    Think it through, liberals...

  57. Transmitting from a Rotating Planet by billstewart · · Score: 1

    Some of the drivel we transmit goes out omnidirectionally, but my guess is that most of it's fairly directional, so instead of a hypothetical alien getting it as a direct beam, they're just going to get brief bursts of any given signal stream as the planet rotates around and then it goes on to spam other aliens with our car commercials and Kardashians. Is this plan going to do directional antenna stuff to keep the signal aimed at that one star, or will it also just splatter around the universe?

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    1. Re:Transmitting from a Rotating Planet by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      yes we transmit (intentionally) on the directional antennas. really the right way is space based optical SETI, to transmit in very short pulses with laser directed at list of systems that can outshine our sun for a few microseconds every second. and that it how we should be listening. radio SETI from ground based stations is pointless, either for transmitting or receiving. space based radio seti has focusing, noise, and power issues.

  58. Talk to Martians by nessman · · Score: 1

    Ack! Ack! Ack ack ack! AAAACK!

  59. Sorry, I first read "beacon" as "bacon." by gottabeme · · Score: 1

    Does it make more sense that way?

    --
    "Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
  60. Pi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Many years ago when I was at MIT, there was a project to contact Aliens by sending the presumed universal constant, pi. They were transmitting 3.14. 3.14 etc. a group of students replied "159" ( the next digits in the series: 3.14159...). The city went bananas, the Boston Globe reported the presumed contact. Eventually we were unmasked, but it was fun while it lasted.