This is the third book in the series that included 'The Theory of Nothing' the "The Universe Revealed.' My purpose in this new book is to more fully explain how science is actually done and how science fits into our culture along with religion and p...
How would we know if an intelligent alien species was trying to communicate with us?
That's a great question that SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is dealing with everyday. They have large arrays of radio telescopes aimed at candidate exo-planet star systems that could harbor intelligent alien life.
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Radio telescopes can only detect radio signals however. There is the possibility that alien species could be using laser light to communicate. This has prompted an effort to detect these signals using optical telescopes. However, the problem here is that Earth has to be in the line of sight of said laser light signals. Also, interstellar dust would block laser light. There is proposed plan to use high-energy lasers focused together on a curved mirror and beamed out to see if this would elicit a response from an alien civilization. An adjunct to this idea is the use of artificially generated gamma ray bursts to wake those aliens up.
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There is a possibility that aliens could be using quantum communication, which is instantaneous even over many light years. We have not yet tried to detect quantum signals.
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Be that it may, the most important consideration is what to expect from an alien civilization. Here is where one gets into arguments of symbology and language. We have no idea what sort of language or symbology that an alien species would employ to communicate. The only thing we know is what we would use. However, an alien species' communication may be just that . . . alien. We wouldn't be able to recognize it.
For example, we are able to communicate with language transmitted as sound waves. We also use symbols to create thoughts as written language. What if an alien species doesn't have mouths? They would need another method to communicate, perhaps with sign language or by the creation of sounds, as do dolphins. Maybe they would use mental communication. These preclude us understanding their communications.
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If they have a symbolic language that uses symbols, they may be like hieroglyphics were before the Rosetta stone was discovered. We're not going to find an alien Rosetta stone. Maybe aliens don't use verbs to express actions. They may only use symbols to represent actions and ideas like the Japanese do with Kanji.
Some experts claim that aliens would use math to titillate us. Others claim it would be musical notes. A common idea is that it would be at the frequency of excited hydrogen, being that hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. Obviously, SETI has worked out protocols for determining the validity of a particular radio signal.
I think that most people would want to know when a radio transmission signal from outer space is from an alien civilization. There are lots of sources of radio signals from outer space. They come from planets like Jupiter, and objects like magnetars, pulsars, black holes and even the sun. So, how do they know that the signal is not from a natural source? The answer is that it would be a signal that is different than any outer source they know about. I doubt that it would be like an old Gilligan's Island episode.
