> I think you need to beware of this sort of cultural stuff! It's rather like
> the Victorians sending a message and expecting the aliens to be "obviously"
> using some form of steam engine. Surely they must be at least that smart!
> But why should an alien civilization be "technological" at all? Maybe they
> use magic and communicate entirely by colours, maybe they spend all their
> time singing.
> Mike
If they intercept the Arecibo message, I think we can count on them being
familiar with radio communication. Now, biological radio receivers are
probably possible, but I think it unlikely that a species would naturally
evolve the kind of receiver needed to intercept an interstellar signal of the
kind where dealing with. And to paraphrase Clarke, magic which works is simply
a kind of technology. Radio technology therefore ought to be common ground
with anyone who's at all likely to receive the message.
Andreas
> > > Surely any alien life form with computer technology would be familiar
> > > with binary notation, even if it's only an historical curiosity, because
> > > their computers have long since advanced beyond binary.
>
>
>
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