A King, whose only son was fond of martial exercises, had a dream in which he was warned that his son would be killed by a lion. Afraid the dream should prove true, he built for his son a pleasant palace and adorned its walls for his amusement with all kinds of life-sized animals, among which was the picture of a lion. When the young Prince saw this, his grief at being thus confined burst out afresh, and, standing near the lion, he said: "O you most detestable of animals! through a lying dream of my father's, which he saw in his sleep, I am shut up on your account in this palace as if I had been a girl: what shall I now do to you?' With these words he stretched out his hands toward a thorn-tree, meaning to cut a stick from its branches so that he might beat the lion. But one of the tree's prickles pierced his finger and caused great pain and inflammation, so that the young Prince fell down in a fainting fit. A violent fever suddenly set in, from which he died not many days later.
We had better bear our troubles bravely than try to escape them.
"What do they want to hear"?
i think the more important question is, what do we want to convey?
The content of the message should have no purpose other than the goal of communication. If the message contains data that any kind of intent other than communication could be inferred, we open the door to misunderstanding. To me, math is the obvious candidate. Not some kind of fancy equation to demonstrate our intelligence or level of understanding or to probe theirs, but simply numbers. i would send a sequence of numbers, 1 through 10 in order then 1 through 10 in random order. The goal of sending ordered then unordered numbers is to demonstrate that we are sending the message on purpose and that our intent is only to establish communication. If/When we get a reply is when we start focusing on content, as i think this should be based upon what kind of response we actually get.
i'm not a wicked smart guy but this seems like the safest, most efficient approach to contacting alien life. i'd hate to see the population of the earth collectively utter "Please don't kill the messenger" because of some galactic misunderstanding.
Slashdot Mirror
Reminds me of this Aesop fable..
The King's Son and the Painted Lion
A King, whose only son was fond of martial exercises, had a dream in which he was warned that his son would be killed by a lion. Afraid the dream should prove true, he built for his son a pleasant palace and adorned its walls for his amusement with all kinds of life-sized animals, among which was the picture of a lion. When the young Prince saw this, his grief at being thus confined burst out afresh, and, standing near the lion, he said: "O you most detestable of animals! through a lying dream of my father's, which he saw in his sleep, I am shut up on your account in this palace as if I had been a girl: what shall I now do to you?' With these words he stretched out his hands toward a thorn-tree, meaning to cut a stick from its branches so that he might beat the lion. But one of the tree's prickles pierced his finger and caused great pain and inflammation, so that the young Prince fell down in a fainting fit. A violent fever suddenly set in, from which he died not many days later.
We had better bear our troubles bravely than try to escape them.
If the goal is to keep the excess weight off then it's really quite simple. Burn more calories than you take in.
i would recommend the "Tao of Leadership". Excellent resource for well, everything.
Percussive Maintenance: the act of beating a computer into submission
"What do they want to hear"? i think the more important question is, what do we want to convey? The content of the message should have no purpose other than the goal of communication. If the message contains data that any kind of intent other than communication could be inferred, we open the door to misunderstanding. To me, math is the obvious candidate. Not some kind of fancy equation to demonstrate our intelligence or level of understanding or to probe theirs, but simply numbers. i would send a sequence of numbers, 1 through 10 in order then 1 through 10 in random order. The goal of sending ordered then unordered numbers is to demonstrate that we are sending the message on purpose and that our intent is only to establish communication. If/When we get a reply is when we start focusing on content, as i think this should be based upon what kind of response we actually get. i'm not a wicked smart guy but this seems like the safest, most efficient approach to contacting alien life. i'd hate to see the population of the earth collectively utter "Please don't kill the messenger" because of some galactic misunderstanding.