3 ms·

I'm skeptical on looking for radio waves. How could interstellar intelligence use radio waves to communicate anyway, they're traveling at C and are still too sl

I'm skeptical on looking for radio waves. How could interstellar intelligence use radio waves to communicate anyway, they're traveling at C and are still too slow

nine_k 11y ago
Interstellar intelligence can still travel at time frames much longer than human life. It's like complaining that a letter from America to Europe would travel for many months in 1495. There were still incentives for Europeans to go to America.
- pinkrooftop 11y ago
  Even our own plans for such a thing included lasers not radio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Longshot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Longshot. Still not solving communication speed limits
  - pavel_lishin 11y ago
    I think the previous commenter was saying that the communication speed limits may not be a problem that can be, or needs to be, solved. If the speed of light is the ultimate speed limit, technological civilizations may just have to accept it and work within that limit. Just because a method of communication is slow doesn't mean it's not worth using.
    - DasIch 11y ago
      If that limit can't be broken, it would massively slow down space travel though. Our civilization currently consumes more resources than can be replenished. What if other civilizations have the same problem and can't travel to other planets before resource starvation comes in?
      - krapp 11y ago
        > What if other civilizations have the same problem and can't travel to other planets before resource starvation comes in? They probably die.
        nine_k 11y ago
        Traveling to other planets is relatively easy; in our system it takes just a few years using the cheapest chemical boosters + ion engines. A nuclear rocket engine (quite feasible) would probably lower the travel time noticeably. Communication delays in the range of a few hours maximum are not a significant problem either. It's traveling to other star systems what is hard. OTOH we live in a relatively sparsely populated neck of galactic woods; thicker clusters of stars exist with much shorter interstellar distances. Conditions there are usually deadly for us, though.
      - pavel_lishin 11y ago
        > If that limit can't be broken, it would massively slow down space travel though. Yes. So? I reiterate my previous argument.
cgriswald 11y ago
All communication is limited to c. Any novel forms which are not limited to c are beyond our ken so we lack even the ability to look. At this point, scientists are looking for someone who would want to talk to us. (We are very unlikely to intercept anything not intended for us.) Anyone who wanted to talk to a fledgeling civilization is probably smart enough to know to use radio waves.

I'm skeptical on looking for radio waves. How could interstellar intelligence use radio waves to communicate anyway, they're traveling at C and are still too slow

nine_k 11y ago

Interstellar intelligence can still travel at time frames much longer than human life. It's like complaining that a letter from America to Europe would travel for many months in 1495. There were still incentives for Europeans to go to America.

pinkrooftop 11y ago
Even our own plans for such a thing included lasers not radio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Longshot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Longshot. Still not solving communication speed limits
- pavel_lishin 11y ago
  I think the previous commenter was saying that the communication speed limits may not be a problem that can be, or needs to be, solved. If the speed of light is the ultimate speed limit, technological civilizations may just have to accept it and work within that limit. Just because a method of communication is slow doesn't mean it's not worth using.
  - DasIch 11y ago
    If that limit can't be broken, it would massively slow down space travel though. Our civilization currently consumes more resources than can be replenished. What if other civilizations have the same problem and can't travel to other planets before resource starvation comes in?
    - krapp 11y ago
      > What if other civilizations have the same problem and can't travel to other planets before resource starvation comes in? They probably die.
      - nine_k 11y ago
        Traveling to other planets is relatively easy; in our system it takes just a few years using the cheapest chemical boosters + ion engines. A nuclear rocket engine (quite feasible) would probably lower the travel time noticeably. Communication delays in the range of a few hours maximum are not a significant problem either. It's traveling to other star systems what is hard. OTOH we live in a relatively sparsely populated neck of galactic woods; thicker clusters of stars exist with much shorter interstellar distances. Conditions there are usually deadly for us, though.
    - pavel_lishin 11y ago
      > If that limit can't be broken, it would massively slow down space travel though. Yes. So? I reiterate my previous argument.

cgriswald 11y ago

All communication is limited to c. Any novel forms which are not limited to c are beyond our ken so we lack even the ability to look. At this point, scientists are looking for someone who would want to talk to us. (We are very unlikely to intercept anything not intended for us.) Anyone who wanted to talk to a fledgeling civilization is probably smart enough to know to use radio waves.