----- Original Message -----
From: "Andreas Johansson" <andjo@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Friday, August 01, 2003 7:16 PM
Subject: Re: How do you say 'Hello' to an alien?
> Quoting Joe <joe@...>:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Ian Spackman" <ianspackman@...>
>
> > > >
> > > > > The length of the message (in bits) was a product of two primes.
When
> > the
> > > > > sequence of bits was rasterred onto a rectangle whose sides were
the
> > > > > factors of the length of the message, a rather blocky bitmapped
image
> > > >appeared.
> > > > >
> > > > > "Aceribo message" would probably be a useful search term to find
what
> > was
> > > >sent.
> > > >
> > > >Yeah..um...What kind of insane aliens would think of that kind of
thing?
> > >
> > >
> > > Well, I don't think it's *that* obscure. If you have the idea of it
being
> > > binary, the two-prime-number thing would suggest a rectangle to anyone
who
> > > has any half-decent maths, I'd think. And (bigger if) if they have a
> > sense
> > > of bilateral symmetry they could even tell which reading is the right
> > > one. What I've always doubted is that they'd figure out anything much
> > > encoded in the message.
> > >
> > > Still, if they get that far it's enough to suggest there's some sort
of
> > > "intelligent life" out there, I'd have thought.
> > >
> > > It's still a massive longshot, but I think the prime number thing is
the
> > > simplest bit of it. :)
> >
> > Yes, but who's going to look at the fact that something has, say,
twenty-one
> > bits and say 'Oh look! It's a product of two primes! Let's map it onto a
> > rectangle!'. It just doesn't seem [?plausible]
>
> Anyone with a mathematically inclined brain?
>
> If I got hold of a string of zeros and ones, and had reason to suspect it
> contained a message encoded in a way intended to be "obvious", it's the
kind
> of thing I look after.
Thing is, I wouldn't usually interpret the size of the message as part of
the decoding device. Probably a personal bias of mine..sorry..