Curtis Miller

Messaging Extra-Terrestrials

Messaging Extra-Terrestrials
By Curtis Miller
In April 2010, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking made claims that sparked a great controversy. In his television show Into the Universe, Hawking said that attempting to contact extra terrestrials is dangero!s "Hawking, 2010#. S$%I has &een going 'or decades, and the 'irst attempt to message extra terrestrials was sent in 1()*, and at least three more pro+ects "hence'orth re'erred to as ,$%I# having &een created since then "-aitsev, 200.#. %he stakes that Hawking presents are high eno!gh to propel the s!&+ect o' ,$%I to center stage when contemplating the search 'or extra terrestrials "$%s#. %his paper, a'ter esta&lishing working ass!mptions, will arg!e that messaging extra terrestrials advances the search 'or extra terrestrial civili/ations "re'erred to 'rom this point as $%0s#, that there is a d!ty to send messages, and that messaging does not place the h!man race in a greater risk o' detection &y hostile $%0s. 1or these reasons, ,$%I pro+ects sho!ld &e p!rs!ed. 2e'ore de'ending ,$%I pro+ects, certain positions will &e ass!med thro!gho!t the paper. 1irst, this paper ass!mes that $%s and $%0s exist in a&!ndance. Hawking presents the simplest reason to &elieve in the existence o' li'e o!tside o' $arth3 the Universe is a really &ig place, and i' li'e happened on $arth, it likely happened elsewhere, too "Hawking, 2010#. However, the idea that $%0s are a&!ndant 'aces a very reasona&le criticism, known as the 1ermi paradox "4eardor'', 2005#3 i' $%0s are so common, where are they6 7hy hasn8t $arth &een coloni/ed yet or o!r civili/ation destroyed "2rin, 1(9:#6 %his leads to the second ass!mption o' this paper3 $%0s are more likely to &e &enevolent and ethical than hostile "4eardor'', 1(9.#. ;n the same note, these &enevolent $%0s have placed a leaky em&argo on $arth and h!manity, meaning that they withhold most contact with $arth, yet are grad!ally increasing contact with $arth "4eardor'', 1(9.#. %he $%0s, wanting to &ring !s into the galactic comm!nity yet wanting h!man civili/ation to mat!re on its own, have a chance to destroy itsel' "most aggressive $%0s are ass!med to have destroyed themselves within their solar system &e'ore entering a galactic era "4eardor'', 1(9.##, and also not wanting to ca!se a great dist!r&ance and panic in society with s!dden contact, grad!ally introd!ce themselves into the mainstream p!&lic. 7hile doing so, they desire to &ypass governments "'or 'ear o' &eing

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Messaging Extra-Terrestrials

censored# and the scienti'ic comm!nity "'or 'ear that it will &e censored &y the government# "4eardor'', 1(9.< 2005#, mainly &eca!se $%0s wo!ld rather make their existence known and accepted &y the p!&lic at large 'irst. %he $%0s, in an e''ort to avoid the attention o' the scienti'ic comm!nity, are likely !sing methods that cannot &e st!died with scienti'ic reasoning "s!ch as appearing irreg!larly and to small gro!ps o' people# "4eardor'', 1(9.< 2005#. %he 'act that U1;s visit in a manner that make them appear to &e +!st myths is not only possi&le, &!t pro&a&ly exactly what a &enevolent $%0 wo!ld do, warming !p the general p!&lic &e'ore &ecoming o''icial "4eardor'', 1(9.< 2005#. Ass!ming that $%0s were hostile wo!ld only strengthen the 1ermi paradox< a hostile civili/ation wo!ld make their presence well known regardless o' ens!ing planetary shock and disr!ption, wo!ld do so rather =!ickly !pon discovering intelligent li'e on $arth, and wo!ld likely have coloni/ed the planet &y now. %his is &ased on the 'inal ass!mption3 $%0s are 'ar older and 'ar more advanced "&y perhaps millions o' years# than h!man civili/ation "2rin, 1(9:#. %he technology necessary to reach $arth at speeds 'aster than light is pro&a&ly millions o' years &eyond o!r reach, i' it does exist "4eardor'', 2005#. I' it doesn8t, travel &elow light speed wo!ld mean that the civili/ations we contact wo!ld &e 'ar older than !s anyway. 7ith this ass!mption come the 'actors o' technological and evol!tionary s!periority o' $%0s...another reason why they wo!ldn8t want to make their existence too a&r!ptly known "the impact o' the knowledge o' extreme h!man technological in'eriority wo!ld pro&a&ly have a negative impact on h!man society "4eardor'', 2005##. 7ith the previo!s ass!mptions esta&lished, disc!ssion o' the =!estion o' whether ,$%I is a wise p!rs!it can &egin. %he 'irst reason why attempting to send messages to $%0s is a reasona&le p!rs!it is that the st!dy o' sending messages &!ilds !p o!r S$%I e''orts. 1irst, designing messages and planning their delivery method translates into research 'or S$%I. %he methods !sed to send messages are likely the methods that $%0s wo!ld !se to send their own messages, i' they chose to do so. 1inding methods 'or sending o!r own messages, there'ore, gives !s cl!es as to how to look 'or signals 'rom $%0s. 0ontemplating the challenges 'aced &y $%0s !pon receiving o!r messages helps !s to re'ine o!r technology so that, i' we were on the receiving end, we8d &e a&le to identi'y o!r own messages. As we research into new technologies 'or &roadcasting o!r messages, we explore the vario!s methods o' transmitting messages across space, expanding o!r 'ield o' search. %h!s, ,$%I st!dies tie into S$%I st!dies, improving S$%I e''ectiveness.

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Messaging Extra-Terrestrials

Another reason why we sho!ld invest in ,$%I pro+ects is that it wo!ld &e paradoxical 'or !s to expect to 'ind messages 'rom $%0s witho!t also transmitting messages to them "-aitsev, 200.#. >ight now, many 'eel that the so called ?reat Silence @ that is, the total lack o' evidence o' $%0s despite their claimed a&!ndance @ is proo' that they do not exist "4eardor'', 2005#. 7hile this is hardly proo', it does raise =!estions as to what is the ca!se o' the ?reat Silence. ;ne theory 'or explaining the ?reat Silence is that a highly xenopho&ic $% race or its ro&ot s!rrogates "that is, sel' replicating ro&ots programmed to coloni/e the galaxy# attack any !nidenti'ied radio wave so!rce, th!s silencing the so!rce &y killing it "2rin, 1(9.#. 2!t this arg!ment is 'allacio!s, tho!gh. 1irst, s!ch aggressive races are !nlikely to emerge, having a very high likelihood o' sel' destr!ction &e'ore reaching a galactic epoch, and aggressive ro&ot s!rrogates wo!ld also &e a serio!s threat to the creator race, decreasing the likelihood o' their creation in the 'irst place "2rin, 1(9.#. Another reason to do!&t the existence o' s!ch a xenopho&ic race is that we have never &een attacked or coloni/ed &y s!ch a race. Second, ass!ming that s!ch a civili/ation did emerge, even i' the so!rce o' radio waves had &een attacked and killed, we may still pick !p some o' the radio waves 'rom the destroyed so!rce or so!rces that are either !naware o', indi''erent to, or !na''ected &y the threat "'or example, the xenopho&ic race#. However, the possi&ility o' aggressive xenopho&ic races or their ro&ot s!rrogates may &e eno!gh to ca!se other races to AsilenceB their radio wave activity. %his is similar to the 'amo!s prisoner8s dilemma, where in this case, all $%0s protect themselves in 'ear o' &eing attacked, which is a loss 'or all since no one sends signals to alert the others o' the existence o' other $%0s, which is pres!ma&ly also in the interest o' other $%0s. I' $arth were to silence its messaging program, $arth wo!ld &e contri&!ting to the pro&lem, rather than helping to &reak the silence. As stated &y -aitsev "200.#, i' all $%0s only listened 'or signals o' li'e in other places o' the galaxy, yet no one is willing to transmit, no one will &e s!ccess'!l in 'inding other li'e. H!manity, there'ore, in ret!rn 'or seeking signals o' li'e, o!ght to &e willing to contri&!te signals o' its own. However, wo!ldn8t this &e p!tting $arth at risk i' hostile $%0s do exist6 %he third point s!pporting ,$%I programs is that $arth is already detecta&le. As 2rin "1(9.# h!moro!sly lamented, A%he e''ect o' 84eadly Cro&es8 Dmeaning aggressive ro&ot s!rrogatesE on Dthe li'espan o' a civili/ationE is pro'o!nd. And 8I Fove F!cy8 has spread well past ta! 0eti &y now.B In essence, the cat8s already o!t o' the &ag, and has &een

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Messaging Extra-Terrestrials

'or a while. Cl!s $arth is not likely to give !p its !se o' radio waves 'or exploration o' the solar system, 'or military p!rposes, or 'or the military8s systems that detect stellar o&+ects that co!ld collide with $arth...a reasona&le !se o' radio "-aitsev, 2009#. It8s =!ite possi&le that $%0s are already aware o' intelligent li'e on $arth. Since they pro&a&ly know, we might as well tell them with intelligent ,$%I e''orts that we8re not !naware o' their existence, either. I' extra terrestrial li'e is 'o!nd, there is no do!&t that it wo!ld change h!man history "%o!gh, 1((9#. %he tho!ght that h!manity is not alone in the galaxy, that other civili/ations exist and o&serve nat!ral phenomena too, and are 'ar more advanced than !s, is a h!m&ling and, at the same time, elevating notion. S$%I is a very no&le p!rs!it, &!t S$%I cannot exist witho!t ,$%I. %here'ore, ,$%I sho!ld &e p!rs!ed, since it wo!ld enhance o!r S$%I e''orts, clearing !p the ?reat Silence witho!t p!tting $arth in any risk that it doesn8t already have. ;nly when p!rs!ing this can $arth and h!manity contin!e its entrance into the galactic comm!nity.

Bibliography:

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Messaging Extra-Terrestrials

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