Re: How do you say 'Hello' to an alien?

Andreas Johansson sikyal:

> Exactly what is to be deemed language may be tricky, but conveying information
> without using any kind of symbolism requires that the medium, quite
> litterally, is the message. The voyager and pioneer probes themselves are
> exemplars of terran technology, and tells something of the same. The plaque*
> may fail to tell the aliens anything of human beings or of the earth's
> position, but it will tell anyone capable of being told anything of plaques.
I took an Astrobiology course at my university, and we had to write a
short paper about what to send into space as a first-contact package.
I quickly decided that the most informative thing to send would simply be
a preserved human body--how else could any detailed information about our
selves or anatomy be conveyed?

> * I've heard that a US senator objected to the plaque's inclusion of
> information on the Earth's position, on the grounds that it might guide
> hostile aliens bent on invasion. Can anyone confirm/deny? In any case, we can
> rest assured that a bubble of artificial radio signals is broadcasting our
> location rather more efficiently.
I've also heard that many people objected to the plaque's depiction of
naked humans. I actually read a fairly hilarious letter that someone wrote
objecting to sending such "smut" into space, and what a bad impression
this would make on any aliens that would find it. Some people are just
beyond hope.

--
Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/
http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/blog

Jesus asked them, "Who do you say that I am?"

And they answered, "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground
of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our
interpersonal relationship."

And Jesus said, "What?"