Want to Call Aliens ? Keep it Short and Simple


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If extraterrestrials ever phoned us, they would be more likely to send narrowly directed bursts than constantly blaring signals ? more text-messaging than novel-writing, some scientists now suggest.

Such a strategy also would be more practical for anyone on Earth to reach out to aliens ? if one had at least a billion dollars to spend.

Now some scientists suggest the kind of signals SETI has hoped to find for decades might not be what aliens would broadcast. In a way, the form of communication might come down to cost.

"Our grandfather used to say, 'Talk is cheap, but whiskey costs

money,'" said researcher Gregory Benford, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Irvine, and an award-winning science fiction novelist. "Whatever the life form, evolution selects for economy of resources. Broadcasting is expensive, and transmitting signals across light-years would require considerable resources."

Assuming that aliens would strive to optimize costs, limit waste and make their signaling technology

more efficient, Benford and his twin, James ? a fellow physicist who specializes in high-powered microwave technology ? suggest the signals would not be steadily blasted out in all directions. Extraterrestrials would be more likely to send narrow "searchlight" beams delivered in pulses.

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geez why can't everyone just agree on a standard way of transmitting search signals and stop with the second guessing already! found the Extraterrestrial and Alien Civilization Search Protocal Consortium and define an unambiguous sequence for everyone to announce their existence.

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1)Any race advanced enough to actively try to contact another unknown race would more than likely use maths.

2)They would more than likely apply the idea of K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid)

3)They would then repeat the message over and over again.

There is no point in trying to contact another race if you're just going to send a burst transmission for 5 seconds. Once you get past the chances of there being life on another planet, and factor in the fact that they might be sleeping when your 5 second transmission reaches them, such a short length of time for the transmission makes the chances of contact almost nothing. It would need to be constant, like a homing beacon, for it to be worth doing.

Well, that's my thoughts on the matter. I have no scientific knowledge to back that up, just early morning logic.

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how do we even know that alien civilizations put out RF transmissions anymore? heck they could be millions of years ahead of us for all we know... and way past that onto something we never thought of

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First contact is one of my all time favorite movies

2nd why the hell does everyone think Aliens are millions of years a head of us. :rofl:

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First contact is one of my all time favorite movies

2nd why the hell does everyone think Aliens are millions of years a head of us. :rofl:

its a theory that they COULD be... we have no idea when their civilization started

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