5 ms·

Unlike radio waves or light, gravity waves aren't impeded by obstacles like stars, planets, interstellar dust, or anything else that might be out there. Nothing

Unlike radio waves or light, gravity waves aren't impeded by obstacles like stars, planets, interstellar dust, or anything else that might be out there. Nothing could block or jam them and you'd always have a clear signal.

vecter 4y ago
It takes so much energy to create gravity waves and so much effort to detect them that it's silly to try to use them as a medium of communication.
- lowbloodsugar 4y ago
  *For Kardashev Type 1 civilizations like us. (And we’re only 0.74 not even 1)
  - moloch-hai 4y ago
    We are not even 0.01 Kardashev.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - nmeagent 4y ago
      ~0.73 seems about right. 0.01 is about 1.26 MW. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#:~:text=equivalent%20to%20an%20average%20power%20consumption%20of%2018.87%20TW%20or%200.73 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#:~:text=equiva...
      - moloch-hai 4y ago
        According to the linked page, K1 = 10^16 W = 10,000 TW. We are at ~20 TW = 0.002 K1. 0.01 K1 was a generous overestimate. Strictly speaking, K1 really should be 2e17 W, putting us at .0001 K1. (600 exajoules/y = 600,000,000 Tj/y, divided by 31.5M s/y = 19 TW. https://www.statista.com/statistics/265598/consumption-of-primary-energy-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/265598/consumption-of-pr... )
        nmeagent 4y ago
        It's a logarithmic scale. The 0.73 value is not a linear scaling but a value given by Sagan's proposed interpolating/extrapolating function: K = (log10(P) - 6) / 10, where P is power in Watts. 20 TW = 2e13 W -> K = (log10(2e13) - 6) / 10 = ~(13.3 - 6) / 10 = ~0.73
        moloch-hai 4y ago
        That is a very flattering way to formulate it.
  - vecter 4y ago
    That the Kardashev scale exists does not necessitate that any civilizations will ever reach Type II or III.
JohnBooty 4y ago
But you'd be broadcasting to the entire universe. Also, seems like you'd get a lot of collisions. Everybody in the universe broadcasting via gravity waves would be doing it on the same "frequency" (so to speak) right? You'd also be perturbing the entire universe. Unlike radio waves, the gravity waves are going to have a very real effect on the objects through which they pass. If you're using gravity waves to communicate with somebody zillions of light years away, seems like you'd disrupt all the nearby star systems.
- newZWhoDis 4y ago
  No you use the same frequency systems we use now, there’s a whole spectrum of gravity waves to use.

vecter 4y ago

It takes so much energy to create gravity waves and so much effort to detect them that it's silly to try to use them as a medium of communication.

lowbloodsugar 4y ago
*For Kardashev Type 1 civilizations like us. (And we’re only 0.74 not even 1)
- moloch-hai 4y ago
  We are not even 0.01 Kardashev.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - nmeagent 4y ago
    ~0.73 seems about right. 0.01 is about 1.26 MW. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#:~:text=equivalent%20to%20an%20average%20power%20consumption%20of%2018.87%20TW%20or%200.73 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#:~:text=equiva...
    - moloch-hai 4y ago
      According to the linked page, K1 = 10^16 W = 10,000 TW. We are at ~20 TW = 0.002 K1. 0.01 K1 was a generous overestimate. Strictly speaking, K1 really should be 2e17 W, putting us at .0001 K1. (600 exajoules/y = 600,000,000 Tj/y, divided by 31.5M s/y = 19 TW. https://www.statista.com/statistics/265598/consumption-of-primary-energy-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/265598/consumption-of-pr... )
      - nmeagent 4y ago
        It's a logarithmic scale. The 0.73 value is not a linear scaling but a value given by Sagan's proposed interpolating/extrapolating function: K = (log10(P) - 6) / 10, where P is power in Watts. 20 TW = 2e13 W -> K = (log10(2e13) - 6) / 10 = ~(13.3 - 6) / 10 = ~0.73
        moloch-hai 4y ago
        That is a very flattering way to formulate it.
- vecter 4y ago
  That the Kardashev scale exists does not necessitate that any civilizations will ever reach Type II or III.

JohnBooty 4y ago

But you'd be broadcasting to the entire universe. Also, seems like you'd get a lot of collisions. Everybody in the universe broadcasting via gravity waves would be doing it on the same "frequency" (so to speak) right? You'd also be perturbing the entire universe. Unlike radio waves, the gravity waves are going to have a very real effect on the objects through which they pass. If you're using gravity waves to communicate with somebody zillions of light years away, seems like you'd disrupt all the nearby star systems.

newZWhoDis 4y ago
No you use the same frequency systems we use now, there’s a whole spectrum of gravity waves to use.