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Extraterrestrial

ET invited to contribute to interstellar 'library'

By T.K. Randall
May 1, 2021 · Comment icon 18 comments

It's a long shot, but who knows - maybe someone will participate. Image Credit: YouTube / Sky
A philosopher is setting up a library with the goal of encouraging an interstellar cultural exchange with aliens.
The question of whether we are alone in the universe remains one of the biggest philosophical conundrums of our time. While it seems almost inconceivable that our civilization is alone in the cosmos, the fact still remains that we have yet to see any evidence to the contrary.

This hasn't stopped experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats, however, who has begun work on a "Library of the Great Silence" to encourage a cosmic cultural exchange with extraterrestrials.

Based at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Northern California, the library will offer easy access and will house artefacts from throughout Earth's history such as handaxes, fossils of extinct species and samples of material produced during the testing of the world's first atomic bomb.
Ultimately, the plan will be to host similar samples from other intelligent civilizations.

"Although interstellar exchange could take time, a material archive of transformations will have immediate global value that may be sufficient to extend the lifespan of human civilization in the interim," the project description reads.

"Manipulating existentially significant objects without the use of words - and without the underlying assumptions of language or limitations on who participates in the conversation - may facilitate comprehension of human behaviors that has previously eluded us, or even directly encourage beneficial practices such as cooperation."

Whether the project will grab the attention of any passing aliens, however, remains to be seen.

Source: Space.com | Comments (18)




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Comment icon #9 Posted by theotherguy 4 years ago
It's not too difficult to keep good records about what was sent into space, when it was sent, where, and how it was sent, and then to keep those records for several decades, or longer if needed. The question that comes to my mind is, would such a signal be intelligible by whatever might be there to receive it, and if so, would their response be intelligible to us? Even if the 1974 Arecibo message was sent out again, if the recipients' basic mathematics was based around triangles instead of rectangles, they might not recognize it as meaningful. I know I'm going deep into hypotheticals here, but... [More]
Comment icon #10 Posted by Dejarma 4 years ago
well to start with they call it maths because that's short for mathematics like stats is short for statistics. You're obviously next to a fireplace somewhere in America. Though you may not be in America right now
Comment icon #11 Posted by theotherguy 4 years ago
Europe, Europa, same thing, right? I freely admit my American-ness, and my inability to pick a moon of Jupiter that doesn't sounds like a continent.
Comment icon #12 Posted by itsnotoutthere 4 years ago
Er....faster than light??  You do know the physics involved in accelerating sub atomic particles to near the speed of light? I say 'near' because it hasn't been done yet. Einsteins equations still hold. https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/1557/accelerating-particles-to-speeds-infinitesimally-close-to-the-speed-of-light By special relativity, the energy needed to accelerate a particle (with mass) grow super-quadratically when the speed is close to c, and is ∞ when it is c. E=γmc2=mc21−(“percent of speed of light”)2−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−... [More]
Comment icon #13 Posted by Nuclear Wessel 4 years ago
No, not "faster than light". This is currently not possible based on our understanding of physics. I imagine we will eventually leverage quantum entanglement to communicate across these distances, though for now I can agree that yes, it is essentially pointless to attempt communication across vast distances of, say, hundreds of light years.
Comment icon #14 Posted by itsnotoutthere 4 years ago
"I imagine we will eventually leverage quantum entanglement to communicate across these distances" That's assuming we can find enough Dilithium crystals  
Comment icon #15 Posted by josellama2000 4 years ago
BTW, interstellar is a small town in Siberia. So I doubt any alien will be interested. :)
Comment icon #16 Posted by godnodog 3 years ago
I've just uploaded my baked potatoes recipe.
Comment icon #17 Posted by astrobeing 3 years ago
It's not nothing. It's 8.4 years.
Comment icon #18 Posted by Nobu 3 years ago
This is my hunch. I don’t think the human mind can typically comprehend the distances in space. I suspect there is other life but it’s just so far away we will never be in contact.   The whole folding space thing for travel seems more fantasy than based in any future reality. The vast amount of energy ntroduced and released in some sort of space warp wouldn’t be very friendly to surrounding matter imo.


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