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A very noble endeavour indeed, but I still don't get it. So let's say that by examining the petabytes of data that's received from the telescopes, at some poin

A very noble endeavour indeed, but I still don't get it. So let's say that by examining the petabytes of data that's received from the telescopes, at some point a signal is detected. Let's say that somehow all the competing scientests and skeptics, religious and opinion leaders magically and peacefully agree: the signal is from an inteligent life form. Somewhere close, just a couple of hundred light years away ... Then what ? Do we build rockets to travel there ? Do we 'tune-in' and decipher the signal ? Do we send them our own signals in the hope that they are listening ?

evantahler 11y ago
The answer is usually "what would Jean luc Picard do?"
tfm 11y ago
It's certainly difficult to imagine projects that operate on a timescale beyond a single human lifetime, but it got civilisation this far!
neals 11y ago
Yes. Yes we will.
sdrinf 11y ago
There are very few pieces of information really worthy of deliberate broadcasts across star-systems in the hopes of someone catching it. One of these few might be a full dump of neural vector-states (or functional equivalent thereof), at an appropriately low-level assembly, which when successfully executed, brings not a message, but the messenger itself.
- pavlov 11y ago
  In fact, any sufficiently advanced digital program can be a "messenger" rather than a "message". But how do we know what kind of execution environment is available at the destination? Aliens probably use Brainfuck [1], so we need a substantial increase in Brainfuck AI research. Some modern-day Kennedy needs to step up to this challenge. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck
- brianmcconnell 11y ago
  A fair amount of work has already been done with algorithmic communication systems, as its a small step from a mathematical language to a general purpose programming language. Paul Fitzpatrick, then with the MIT AI lab, developed the most complete framework around the idea, CosmicOS.
vixen99 11y ago
What we will have is a lot more experience with protocols as are required to detect such signals. Not difficult to imagine circumstances in which such capability could be highly significant or even critical for mankind or the Earth's future.
jively 11y ago
An upheaval in the way we see our role in the universe? Re-invogorate the race to space? I think there's plenty of things that follow "then what?".
SCHiM 11y ago
Do you not think that actually knowing, really knowing, is a worthy cause in and of itself? To have proof that we are not alone? Even if we can't get there I think that certainty would be a very nice thing to have.
- happyscrappy 11y ago
  I agree that knowing is a worthy cause, but never mind getting there we will not even be able to have anything even resembling a conversation if you have to wait hundreds of years for a response. Edit: Does anyone know the current thinking of the odds that information could be able to travel faster than light, ie a wormhole? As far as I know they are very slim.
  - angdis 11y ago
    Well, if we do detect a signal, we're not going to just transmit "wassup?" and wait for an answer. I think it will be an interesting problem to have a conversation with other beings where the lag time is measured in decades!
    - ifdefdebug 11y ago
      Well galactic communication is one-way: every civilization reaching the tech level needed to participate in it just starts to send out everything they know, never hoping for anyone to reply. Additionally, every participating civilization starts relaying everything they hear from one side to the other side, so civilizations which are mutually out of range can hear from each other. There is a galactic consent that nobody will ever be able to actually visit each other. And of course, this is pure science fiction :)
  - ifdefdebug 11y ago
    Anything contradicting relativity is currently out of the scope of science and not backed by any observation whatsoever, so any travel-faster-than-light theory has exactly the odds granted to it by it's own believers, and zero for everybody else.
onion2k 11y ago
Let's say that somehow all the competing scientests and skeptics, religious and opinion leaders magically and peacefully agree.. That's sounds like exactly the sort of outcome we want, regardless of what else happens.
msane 11y ago
Taking the "I don't get it" attitude on this resembles a sort of classic anti-science ignorance, not sure if that's what you were going for.

evantahler 11y ago

The answer is usually "what would Jean luc Picard do?"

tfm 11y ago

It's certainly difficult to imagine projects that operate on a timescale beyond a single human lifetime, but it got civilisation this far!

neals 11y ago

Yes. Yes we will.

sdrinf 11y ago

There are very few pieces of information really worthy of deliberate broadcasts across star-systems in the hopes of someone catching it. One of these few might be a full dump of neural vector-states (or functional equivalent thereof), at an appropriately low-level assembly, which when successfully executed, brings not a message, but the messenger itself.

pavlov 11y ago
In fact, any sufficiently advanced digital program can be a "messenger" rather than a "message". But how do we know what kind of execution environment is available at the destination? Aliens probably use Brainfuck [1], so we need a substantial increase in Brainfuck AI research. Some modern-day Kennedy needs to step up to this challenge. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck
brianmcconnell 11y ago
A fair amount of work has already been done with algorithmic communication systems, as its a small step from a mathematical language to a general purpose programming language. Paul Fitzpatrick, then with the MIT AI lab, developed the most complete framework around the idea, CosmicOS.

vixen99 11y ago

What we will have is a lot more experience with protocols as are required to detect such signals. Not difficult to imagine circumstances in which such capability could be highly significant or even critical for mankind or the Earth's future.

jively 11y ago

An upheaval in the way we see our role in the universe? Re-invogorate the race to space? I think there's plenty of things that follow "then what?".

SCHiM 11y ago

Do you not think that actually knowing, really knowing, is a worthy cause in and of itself? To have proof that we are not alone? Even if we can't get there I think that certainty would be a very nice thing to have.

happyscrappy 11y ago
I agree that knowing is a worthy cause, but never mind getting there we will not even be able to have anything even resembling a conversation if you have to wait hundreds of years for a response. Edit: Does anyone know the current thinking of the odds that information could be able to travel faster than light, ie a wormhole? As far as I know they are very slim.
- angdis 11y ago
  Well, if we do detect a signal, we're not going to just transmit "wassup?" and wait for an answer. I think it will be an interesting problem to have a conversation with other beings where the lag time is measured in decades!
  - ifdefdebug 11y ago
    Well galactic communication is one-way: every civilization reaching the tech level needed to participate in it just starts to send out everything they know, never hoping for anyone to reply. Additionally, every participating civilization starts relaying everything they hear from one side to the other side, so civilizations which are mutually out of range can hear from each other. There is a galactic consent that nobody will ever be able to actually visit each other. And of course, this is pure science fiction :)
- ifdefdebug 11y ago
  Anything contradicting relativity is currently out of the scope of science and not backed by any observation whatsoever, so any travel-faster-than-light theory has exactly the odds granted to it by it's own believers, and zero for everybody else.

onion2k 11y ago

Let's say that somehow all the competing scientests and skeptics, religious and opinion leaders magically and peacefully agree.. That's sounds like exactly the sort of outcome we want, regardless of what else happens.

msane 11y ago

Taking the "I don't get it" attitude on this resembles a sort of classic anti-science ignorance, not sure if that's what you were going for.