2. Paranormal News | SETI Radio: Extraterrestrial & Other Voices -How to Recognize a Message from E.T.
A fascinating discussion on communication and language, from a theory about how animals compete for bandwidth to the beautiful and sonorous language of whales, and how to recognize a message from E.T. And, making the case for letting that library card lapse: the extinction of the written word.
One of the greatest philosophical and scientific challenges that currently confronts humanity is the unsolved question of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence.
The Fermi paradox is the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for or contact with such civilizations.
The 14-billion-year age of the universe and its 130 billion galaxies and a Milky Way Galaxy with some 400 billion stars suggest that if the Earth is typical, should be common. Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi, discussing this observation with colleagues over lunch in 1950, asked, logically: "Where are they?" Why, if advanced extraterrestrial civilizations exist in our Milky Way galaxy, hasn't evidence such as probes, spacecraft, or radio transmissions been found?
As our technologies become ever more sophisticated and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence continues to fail, the "Great Silence" becomes louder than ever. The seemingly empty cosmos is screaming out to us that something is amiss. Or is it?
Perhaps...but in our search for life and intelligence we have to keep in mind that the Milky Way Galaxy is two or three times the age of our Solar System, so there are going to be some societies out there that are millions of years, maybe more, beyond ours, which may have proceeded beyond biology—that have invented intelligent, self-replicating machines and it could be that what we first find is something that's artificially constructed if we have the ability to recognize it as such. It may very well be that our greatest discovery will be that the very nature of alien communication will prevent our being able to communicate with it.
Posted by Jason McManus.
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/09/seti-radio-on-e.html
Disclaimer:
This website contains copyrighted news material - the use of which has
not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We believe
that our use of such material for nonprofit educational purposes (and other
related purposes) constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as
provided for in the US Copyright Law at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you
wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go
beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. If
for any reason you believe that our use of your material on this site does
not fall within the fair use guidelines, please immediately notify The Black
Vault so that we can promptly address the matter.
Sincerely,
John Greenewald, Jr.
The Black Vault Headquarters
http://www.theblackvault.com
|
Online Stats: 
