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There is also the possibility that extraterrestrials exist and communicate in ways we can't conceive of.

sliverstorm 16y ago
Yes, this is possible. I'd argue though that if 2 instances of life exist (them and us), n instances must exist, (and thus some must use radio waves) because it clearly demonstrates humanity wasn't a freak septillion-to-one occurrence that shouldn't have happened.
- danenania 16y ago
  Interesting point, but given the amount of randomness involved in evolution, the physical complexity of cognition, and the timescales involved, is it possible that even given massive numbers of cognitively advanced species in the universe, each could have such a fundamentally distinct ontological relationship to reality and model of the physical universe that even a concept as seemingly scientifically basic as a 'radio wave' would be unique to us?
  - deleted 16y ago
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- narag 16y ago
  This would be relevant for civilizations like ours, using waves to purposedly contact with others, but not for signals used to communicate with spaceships or colonies of the same alien civilization.
CamperBob 16y ago
I suspect that they communicate in ways that we can conceive of, and have recently started to communicate, ourselves. Specifically, if you're broadcasting radio or TV signals that look like anything other than random noise from the perspective of an uncorrelated receiver, then you're wasting energy. Human history suggests that there's a window of about 100 years between the time when a civilization learns RF theory and starts to generate coherent signals, and the time when they learn information theory and stop.
m_myers 16y ago
http://xkcd.com/638/ http://xkcd.com/638/ "We've searched dozens of these floor tiles for several common types of pheremone trails. If there were intelligent life up there, we would have seen its messages by now."
- danenania 16y ago
  Lol... exactly.

Yes, this is possible. I'd argue though that if 2 instances of life exist (them and us), n instances must exist, (and thus some must use radio waves) because it clearly demonstrates humanity wasn't a freak septillion-to-one occurrence that shouldn't have happened.

danenania 16y ago
Interesting point, but given the amount of randomness involved in evolution, the physical complexity of cognition, and the timescales involved, is it possible that even given massive numbers of cognitively advanced species in the universe, each could have such a fundamentally distinct ontological relationship to reality and model of the physical universe that even a concept as seemingly scientifically basic as a 'radio wave' would be unique to us?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
narag 16y ago
This would be relevant for civilizations like ours, using waves to purposedly contact with others, but not for signals used to communicate with spaceships or colonies of the same alien civilization.

CamperBob 16y ago

I suspect that they communicate in ways that we can conceive of, and have recently started to communicate, ourselves. Specifically, if you're broadcasting radio or TV signals that look like anything other than random noise from the perspective of an uncorrelated receiver, then you're wasting energy. Human history suggests that there's a window of about 100 years between the time when a civilization learns RF theory and starts to generate coherent signals, and the time when they learn information theory and stop.

m_myers 16y ago

http://xkcd.com/638/ http://xkcd.com/638/ "We've searched dozens of these floor tiles for several common types of pheremone trails. If there were intelligent life up there, we would have seen its messages by now."

danenania 16y ago
Lol... exactly.