----- Original Message -----
From: "Ian Spackman" <ianspackman@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Friday, August 01, 2003 5:10 PM
Subject: Re: How do you say 'Hello' to an alien?
> >
> > > 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
> Ian
>