SETI recieves signal from SOL type star!

Lancer · June 12, 2003, 04:16

Did you wonder, just for a second? Well I made it up, it's not true, yet. What if it were though?

You're watching Monday night football. Halftime comes and you step out on the deck for a smoke. Lets say you saw something you couldn't explain. Dull lights in the sky at night. They form a pattern and don't move. You watch with great interest at first, but slowly your interest fades. What can you do about it? Besides, the game is on and from the sounds something is happening. You go inside, grab a beer from the fridge and check out the action. Later you go out and whatever it was is gone. You go in and go to sleep.

So what if SETI dramaticly announced 'contact'?

There would be a few parties, some hype, but you have to get to work tomorrow...

It would be meaningless. Two civilizations trapped by distance. Communications back and forth would take decades, maybe centuries.

'SETI recieves signal'

Eli · June 12, 2003, 04:22

Quote:

Well I made it up, it's not true, yet.

Bah! I was opening lots of space news sites while the thread was loading to check what's going on.

MikeH · June 12, 2003, 04:25

Of course it's not true. Football season is over, I don't have a deck and I've given up smoking so how could it happen?

It wouldn't be meaningless anyway. It'd be a massive head fvck.

Lancer · June 12, 2003, 04:28

Eli

Mike, that's my point. It would be exciting...but the most disappointing thing. The anti-climax would be stunningly boring.

Zylka · June 12, 2003, 04:30

That would at least ignite huge religious panic and/or wonder, with massive earthly implications

Lancer · June 12, 2003, 04:32

I doubt it. What implications?

Berzerker · June 12, 2003, 04:34

What a waste of money. Yeah, politicians know better than us how to spend our money...

Zylka · June 12, 2003, 04:34

Quote:

I doubt it. What implications?

Free baptisms at Walmart

Solver · June 12, 2003, 06:10

I would just say "finally everyone will know what I have forever known".

FrustratedPoet · June 12, 2003, 07:15

Quote:

Originally posted by Lancer
Did you wonder, just for a second? Well I made it up, it's not true, yet. What if it were though?

It would be interesting, but not really relevant to me. Who cares if some civilization 10 billion light years away once sent a radio transmission deep into space. They've probably been extinct for 9.9 billion years anway. The most stupid thing we could do is try and reply, although I bet we'd do it anyway.

Maybe we could play a PBEM game of Civ with them? 20 billion years to play one turn sounds pretty standard.

Having said that, it would be good to have some kind of definitive proof that life IS out there. If there is one other species that has advanced to our stage of civilisation then there must be others. However, as we discuss in the other alien thread at the moment, the existence of super-intelligent pan-galactic lifeforms isn't necessarily good news for us primitive apes.

Dauphin · June 12, 2003, 07:48

On hearing that we received a signal my first question would be "What does it say?". If its directed at us I would be more concerned than if it was just traffic noise.

Quote:

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
It would be interesting, but not really relevant to me. Who cares if some civilization 10 billion light years away once sent a radio transmission deep into space. They've probably been extinct for 9.9 billion years anway. The most stupid thing we could do is try and reply, although I bet we'd do it anyway.

Such an old and distant signal would still be a great scientific find even if not a social earthquake. At any rate, if we do detect any signals they will likely be within a couple of hundred light years of Earth.

Alexander's Horse · June 12, 2003, 07:50

wrong number

MrWhereItsAt · June 12, 2003, 07:54

Seeing as the only way they could have received a signal and replied by now, that would equate to the time radio was invented - a round trip of less than 100 years, probably. I'd imagine that there would be quite some extra interest in space technology to get as far as sending a less than 50 year mission to establish contact.

For the first 10 years anyway, then some dumbass President would screw things up by claiming the money was needed more for building strategic missiles, betcha.

Dauphin · June 12, 2003, 07:55

AH, especially if its a collect call.

Q Classic · June 12, 2003, 08:06

well, first, we'd be puzzled as to what exactly the message meant, and surprised that the chose to send back a distorted version of our first broadcast--the 1936 olympics. then, we'd figure out, slowly but surely, that on top of that signal, there was data.

once we found out there was data, we'd be surprised at the sheer amount of it--but unfortunately stuck on how to decode it; at least, until a titan of the new economy gave a shot at it and figured that the data might be assembled into virtual three-dimensional cubes. once we tried that, we'd find that the data provides plans for a machine that apparently would hold five people.

we'd select five people to go into the machine, after much handwringing and political upheaval. we'd send those five people down the machine, only to have them appear to have gone nowhere.

they would claim that they were on some intergalactic journey, one which spanned over 24 hours and led to vega, among other places. but without proof, we would disbelieve them.

until we found out that there was a pattern in pi.

Eli · June 12, 2003, 08:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Q Cubed
well, first, we'd be puzzled as to what exactly the message meant, and surprised that the chose to send back a distorted version of our first broadcast--the 1936 olympics. then, we'd figure out, slowly but surely, that on top of that signal, there was data.

once we found out there was data, we'd be surprised at the sheer amount of it--but unfortunately stuck on how to decode it; at least, until a titan of the new economy gave a shot at it and figured that the data might be assembled into virtual three-dimensional cubes. once we tried that, we'd find that the data provides plans for a machine that apparently would hold five people.

we'd select five people to go into the machine, after much handwringing and political upheaval. we'd send those five people down the machine, only to have them appear to have gone nowhere.

they would claim that they were on some intergalactic journey, one which spanned over 24 hours and led to vega, among other places. but without proof, we would disbelieve them.

until we found out that there was a pattern in pi.

Sounds familiar.

Harry Seldon · June 12, 2003, 08:44

All I know is, if we are contacted I better pick up the DAT file that contains the signal this time considering that out of the thousands of DAT files I've crunched not one was selected for seti@home's rescan project.

Not that I'm bitter or anything.

FrustratedPoet · June 12, 2003, 09:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Eli

Sounds familiar.

What film is that?

Q Classic · June 12, 2003, 09:15

the book/film is contact, by carl sagan.

alva · June 12, 2003, 09:26

Quote:

Maybe we could play a PBEM game of Civ with them? 20 billion years to play one turn sounds pretty standard.

, but they have to send it back within 24 hours or forfeit their turn

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I've they send us a file, better make sure we'll update our virus checker

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No matter what, it would be cool though and may give humanity some direction/unity. Big 'may' though

CerberusIV · June 12, 2003, 09:32

Or we could decipher the message and discover that it says "This is notification that your planet is scheduled to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. You have two years to register any objection. If no objection is registered at your local planning office at Alpha Centauri the demolition will proceed" and then realise it took five years to get here.

alva · June 12, 2003, 09:37

Sounds familiar too, this time FP aint gonna ask where you got it from though

FrustratedPoet · June 12, 2003, 09:38

Eli · June 12, 2003, 09:42

Quote:

Originally posted by Q Cubed
the book/film is contact, by carl sagan.

I only saw the movie... But wasnt the actress sent alone to wherever it was?

Q Classic · June 12, 2003, 09:45

in the movie, jodie foster's character, ellie arroway, was sent alone.

in the book, she was chosen alongside five others--one american, one russian, one chinese, one indian, and one other i can't remember.

Cruddy · June 12, 2003, 09:51

Well, I'd say maybe it's a fake. As in, somebody sent out a deep space probe in the 80s to fake a message to get some world unity.

How do you verify a deep space signal? I'm sure the astrophysicists could have a way of doing this...

But personally, I'm deeply sceptical of current SETI efforts. Trying to isolate one signal from the radiation sources behind it would need a big radio array - in my opinion, bigger than what we can currently do.

I'm not going to say never - but I have doubts it is possible with today's technology.

Flandrien · June 12, 2003, 11:32

What is so special about a SOL type star ?

CerberusIV · June 12, 2003, 11:47

Quote:

Originally posted by Flandrien
What is so special about a SOL type star ?

It is assumed to take several billion years for intelligent life to develop. Larger stars burn their fuel faster and would turn into red giants or whatever, destroying their planets, before life had time to evolve there beyond microbes. Smaller stars don't generate enough light to keep an earth sized planet habitable.

There are a lot of other reasons why a star system might not have planets similar to earth but the size of the star is the first factor to consider.

That all assumes that intelligent life can only evolve on an earth type planet and be somewhat similar to us of course.

DinoDoc · June 12, 2003, 11:57

Quote:

Originally posted by Big Crunch
If its directed at us I would be more concerned than if it was just traffic noise.

Why?

Dauphin · June 12, 2003, 12:04

It would mean they may still be ignorant of our, or our planets, existence. If space is a cutthroat place then not being noticed yet is surely a plus.