http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31442952

So should a signal be sent? Ignore the time and distance, but considering any consequences. Our own history over thousands of years teaches us the most advanced civilisations have been the most aggressive. Also 1st contact situations haven't worked out too well for native populations.

Our own history over thousands of years teaches us the most advanced civilisations have been the most aggressive

No more aggressive.

Cain killed Abel because he had something Cain wanted. Nowadays we kill for the same reason, just have more ways, and more efficient methods.

As for the article's question:

Researchers involved in the search for extra-terrestrial life are considering what the message from Earth should be.

How about, "If you are searching for intelligent life, keep going."

One scientist suggests sending the whole internet.

What would they think of us?

" Our own history over thousands of years teaches us the most advanced civilisations have been the most aggressive. Also 1st contact situations haven't worked out too well for native populations"

But we have the potential to become even more advanced, civilised, humanitarian......Utopian.

​What's to say that an extremely advanced alien society hasn't learnt, the hard way, through the millennia, to become benevolent, cautious, caring, and a complete benefit to Earth?

Then there's the effect contact would have on religion...........could be a good thing, considering.

One scientist suggests sending the whole internet.

What would they think of us?

In need of a good spanking and some attitude adjustment.

"We left a guy here 2000 years ago, we've come to collect him, where is he?'

"We left a guy here 2000 years ago, we've come to collect him, where is he?'

That reminded me of an old (very) short story by Arthur C. Clarke (about a page long, text can be found here - http://iamdanielharris.tumblr.com/post/20379494437/reunion-by-arthur-c-clarke).

And, of course, there's another work by Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End, which relates even closer with your post, albeit with a certain twist (no spoilers).

If human history is anything to go by, then most cases the (technologically) superior civilization initiates the contact, and indeed, this does not necessarily play out very well for the receiving end - whether by design or not is perhaps unimportant.

If there is a civilization out there which can receive and interpret "our" (whatever that means) message, it would have to be at least as technologically advanced as we are. Hence, there is no scenario in which we make contact with a significantly less developed civilization, which by human experience, would mean that there are risks. This assumes similar logical/moral/social patterns with an otherwise unknown civilization - which could be a fallacy.

We're basically still haven't taken our little boats beyond that rock on the edge of the reef off our Island. The notion that we will be better at figuring out what to do when the Santa Maria shows up on the horizon is amusing.

Send it! Send the signal!

I think sending the signal is dangerous.

Sending a specific message will not increase whatever danger there may or may not be of nasty aliens coming to conquer us, nor the prospect of friendly aliens coming to uplift us.

Ever since the first radio transmissions in the 1880s (whether you consider that to be by Hughes or Hertz) we have been broadcasting our presence to the universe.

Dr. Shostak says in the linked to article; "Any society that could come here and ruin our whole day by incinerating the planet already knows we are here."

I'd add a rider to that; radio waves travel at the speed of light, which means they would need to be within a radius of about 135 light years. But that radius is growing all the time, of course.

The first story of Larry Niven's Man-Kzin wars; The Warriors, is an interesting take on first contact between one race which believes to be technologically advanced enough for interstellar travel a race must be morally advanced enough to have abandoned not only war but virtually all violence; and a race which clearly doesn't, indeed hasn't!

I think sending the signal is dangerous.

No it isn't. Space aliens have been listening to BBC Radio 4, specifically The Archers for years now. They're listening into the Sunday omnibus from thirty years ago right now.

I think sending the signal is dangerous.

No it isn't. Space aliens have been listening to BBC Radio 4, specifically The Archers for years now. They're listening into the Sunday omnibus from thirty years ago right now.

and pissed off at the repeats.

Hearing noise in space is a whole lot different than sending a roadmap to the source, and an dossier of valuable information of the inhabitants- 3rd rock from sun, stupid, 2 meter tall, carbon, water planet, etc, Its is just hubris to think we are so safe and secure and our knowledge of knowledge so valid that giving a map to our home is ok. The notion that we would all have intergalactic buddies and someone who could possibly communicate quickly or come here would be interested in hanging out, golf, giving us free shit, and further drivel.There's little doubt humans would get the crap smacked out of them and their lunch money stolen.

I think sending the signal is dangerous.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8642558.stm

We should take notice of Stephen Hawking,

Hearing noise in space is a whole lot different than sending a roadmap to the source, and an dossier of valuable information of the inhabitants- 3rd rock from sun, stupid, 2 meter tall, carbon, water planet, etc, Its is just hubris to think we are so safe and secure and our knowledge of knowledge so valid that giving a map to our home is ok. The notion that we would all have intergalactic buddies and someone who could possibly communicate quickly or come here would be interested in hanging out, golf, giving us free shit, and further drivel.There's little doubt humans would get the crap smacked out of them and their lunch money stolen.

We don't need to send them a map. They'd know where we are anyway. Sending the simple message of "One plus one equals two" in binary form tells them we are intelligent (enough), and nothing else new.

We also shouldn't assume that they too are carbon-based. Earth may be very uninhabitable to them. Even if carbon-based, earth may still be uninhabitable to them.

Knowledge exchange would be the first interaction, not designs of conquest, in either direction.

Hearing noise in space is a whole lot different than sending a roadmap to the source, and an dossier of valuable information of the inhabitants- 3rd rock from sun, stupid, 2 meter tall, carbon, water planet, etc, Its is just hubris to think we are so safe and secure and our knowledge of knowledge so valid that giving a map to our home is ok. The notion that we would all have intergalactic buddies and someone who could possibly communicate quickly or come here would be interested in hanging out, golf, giving us free shit, and further drivel.There's little doubt humans would get the crap smacked out of them and their lunch money stolen.

We don't need to send them a map. They'd know where we are anyway. Sending the simple message of "One plus one equals two" in binary form tells them we are intelligent (enough), and nothing else new.

We also shouldn't assume that they too are carbon-based. Earth may be very uninhabitable to them. Even if carbon-based, earth may still be uninhabitable to them.

Knowledge exchange would be the first interaction, not designs of conquest, in either direction.

Everything you say is correct. I just... I guess I don't see the value as much as the threat. Thanks.

Hearing noise in space is a whole lot different than sending a roadmap to the source, and an dossier of valuable information of the inhabitants.............

Any one capable of picking up the plethora of radio signals being broadcast by us is also capable of tracing those signals back to their source.

If such beings do exists, they don't need a specific invite telling them where we are; they already know.

As the Monty Python Galaxy Song says:-

"And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!"

Hearing noise in space is a whole lot different than sending a roadmap to the source, and an dossier of valuable information of the inhabitants.............

Any one capable of picking up the plethora of radio signals being broadcast by us is also capable of tracing those signals back to their source.

If such beings do exists, they don't need a specific invite telling them where we are; they already know.

As the Monty Python Galaxy Song says:-

"And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!"

Yea, I guess your right and it follows that if they are smart enough for us to communicate, and smarter, they probably know the source of the emission.

Most comments seem to assume that the thought patterns, logic and morals of extraterrestrial life forms will somehow be similar or even understandable by our standards. There is nothing whatsoever in human experience which can lend any support to this line of thinking. We simply have no idea. They (which already assumes plurality...we are limited by language and perceptions) might as well be unable to comprehend or unable to perceive our message and/or its mode of delivery - simply due to being utterly different.

We have some notions on what constitutes life - what if their notions are different? What if they do not conform to our concepts of life?

Most comments seem to assume that the thought patterns, logic and morals of extraterrestrial life forms will somehow be similar or even understandable by our standards. There is nothing whatsoever in human experience which can lend any support to this line of thinking. We simply have no idea. They (which already assumes plurality...we are limited by language and perceptions) might as well be unable to comprehend or unable to perceive our message and/or its mode of delivery - simply due to being utterly different.

We have some notions on what constitutes life - what if their notions are different? What if they do not conform to our concepts of life?

I certainly do not assume that they/it would have the same logic, thought patterns, morals etc. On the contrary, I would be surprised if they/it did.

If they/it are/is unable to perceive our message, then we would not consider them/it intelligent life and contact would not be made.

It's only intelligent life that can perceive our message that would respond if willing and able.

Any other life will miss out.

"Help. it's all gone very wrong. Send cosmic vacuum cleaner and clean this sh*t up asap".

"Help. it's all gone very wrong. Send cosmic vacuum cleaner and clean this sh*t up asap".

Funnily enough I was yesterday thinking make it an SOS after reading a NASA estimate from last March. They believe that modern civilisation has a few decades left.

The chemical make up, thought patterns etc. of extra-terrestrial races may very well be totally different to ours.

But some things will be the same; such as the laws of physics (cue "You cannae change the laws of physics, Captain!" in a faux Scottish accent) and mathematics.

Even though much alien life may be so different to us that any meaningful communication is impossible, it is also possible that there are alien races out there sufficiently like us to allow such communication.

In an infinite universe, anything is possible.

Most comments seem to assume that the thought patterns, logic and morals of extraterrestrial life forms will somehow be similar or even understandable by our standards. There is nothing whatsoever in human experience which can lend any support to this line of thinking. We simply have no idea. They (which already assumes plurality...we are limited by language and perceptions) might as well be unable to comprehend or unable to perceive our message and/or its mode of delivery - simply due to being utterly different.

We have some notions on what constitutes life - what if their notions are different? What if they do not conform to our concepts of life?

I certainly do not assume that they/it would have the same logic, thought patterns, morals etc. On the contrary, I would be surprised if they/it did.

If they/it are/is unable to perceive our message, then we would not consider them/it intelligent life and contact would not be made.

It's only intelligent life that can perceive our message that would respond if willing and able.

Any other life will miss out.

I heard a mosquito. The sound was annoying. Somewhere out there is research detailing how variations in the mosquito's sounds are actually indicative of emotions and express basic needs. That's all very interesting, but here and now there's a stain which used to be a mosquito. Guess I'll never know about the secret life of mosquitoes, and probably won't ever be bothered about it much.

The chemical make up, thought patterns etc. of extra-terrestrial races may very well be totally different to ours.

But some things will be the same; such as the laws of physics (cue "You cannae change the laws of physics, Captain!" in a faux Scottish accent) and mathematics.

Even though much alien life may be so different to us that any meaningful communication is impossible, it is also possible that there are alien races out there sufficiently like us to allow such communication.

In an infinite universe, anything is possible.

The laws of physics cannot change? Than what about older theories, concepts, laws pertaining to physics which were held to be set in stone back when? A rather well known concept of modern science is based on the notion that scientific paradigms change. Mathematics would be a trickier example, but with a recent international convention dealing with properly defining the concept of zero....

Not saying that alien life forms would be different, simply that they can be. Anything is possible, but most attempts to imagine (or even define) how different or how similar such life forms would be is mostly limited by our view of the universe, our limited experience with intelligent species, our concepts and the rest of the baggage.

By the way, wasn't Scotty proven wrong on more than one episode?

We are not that far off being able to detect CFCs in the atmospheres of exoplanets. When that day arrives, those planets, if they exist. Should be the ones we consider targeting.

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus, about 2500 years ago, said "panta rei" (Everything is in a state of flux).

Just about sums it all up

<snip>

The laws of physics cannot change? Than what about older theories, concepts, laws pertaining to physics which were held to be set in stone back when?

It is not the laws of physics, or mathematics, which change; it is our understanding of them as we learn more about the universe.

By the way, wasn't Scotty proven wrong on more than one episode?

Indeed, for example; 8 Times Star Trek Actually Did Change The Laws Of Physics

Most comments seem to assume that the thought patterns, logic and morals of extraterrestrial life forms will somehow be similar or even understandable by our standards. There is nothing whatsoever in human experience which can lend any support to this line of thinking. We simply have no idea. They (which already assumes plurality...we are limited by language and perceptions) might as well be unable to comprehend or unable to perceive our message and/or its mode of delivery - simply due to being utterly different.

We have some notions on what constitutes life - what if their notions are different? What if they do not conform to our concepts of life?

I certainly do not assume that they/it would have the same logic, thought patterns, morals etc. On the contrary, I would be surprised if they/it did.

If they/it are/is unable to perceive our message, then we would not consider them/it intelligent life and contact would not be made.

It's only intelligent life that can perceive our message that would respond if willing and able.

Any other life will miss out.

I heard a mosquito. The sound was annoying. Somewhere out there is research detailing how variations in the mosquito's sounds are actually indicative of emotions and express basic needs. That's all very interesting, but here and now there's a stain which used to be a mosquito. Guess I'll never know about the secret life of mosquitoes, and probably won't ever be bothered about it much.

Yes. That's sorta what I said.

But if you're suggesting WE are the mossie.....well, I think that we can't avoid becoming the stain whether we send intentional signals or not.

Qe sera sera.

It actually follows that we should be sending decipherable patterns so that the slapping hand hesitates and wonders.....