{"id":18426,"date":"2018-07-24T19:50:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T11:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/scientists-come-up-with-revised-rio-scale-to-rate-claims-of-extraterrestrial-contact\/"},"modified":"2018-07-24T19:50:51","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T11:50:51","slug":"scientists-come-up-with-revised-rio-scale-to-rate-claims-of-extraterrestrial-contact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/scientists-come-up-with-revised-rio-scale-to-rate-claims-of-extraterrestrial-contact\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists come up with revised \u2018Rio scale\u2019 to rate claims of extraterrestrial contact"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jill
SETI pioneer Jill Tarter pays a visit to the Allen Telescope Array in California, one of the prime sites for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. (Credit: SETI Institute)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For almost 60 years, efforts to pick up signs of extraterrestrial civilizations have yielded a big fat zero, but there have been plenty of false alarms to contend with.<\/p>\n

To provide a reality check, the International Academy of Astronautics adopted a 1-to-10 rating system for claims of contact, known as the Rio scale, back in the early 2000s. Now a group of astronomers is proposing a \u201cRio 2.0\u201d scale that brings the reality check up to date.<\/p>\n

They hope Rio 2.0 will serve the same purpose in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, that the magnitude scale serves for earthquakes, the Fujita scale serves for tornadoes, and the Torino scale serves for asteroids.<\/p>\n

\"Rio
The Rio scale rates the importance of a SETI claim. (IAA Graphic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe whole world knows about the Richter scale for quantifying the severity of an earthquake; that number is reported immediately following a quake and subsequently refined as more data are consolidated,\u201d Jill Tarter, co-founder of the SETI Institute, said today in a news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SETI community is attempting to create a scale that can accompany reports of any claims of the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence and be refined over time as more data become available,\u201d said Tarter, who\u2019s one of the researchers behind Rio 1.0 and 1.1 as well as Rio 2.0.<\/p>\n

Like the original scale, the new metric considers the credibility of a claim for contact (\u03b4) as well as its potential significance (Q), encapsulated in a formula (R = Q * \u03b4).<\/p>\n

The original scale had only one question aimed at judging credibility, with answers ranging from \u201cabsolutely reliable\u201d to \u201cobviously fake.\u201d The new scale, described today in the International Journal of Astrobiology, gets a little more granular. Seven questions address how much credence a given report should get:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • How much uncertainty is there about whether the phenomenon actually occurred?<\/li>\n
  • How amenable to study is the phenomenon?<\/li>\n
  • Is the discoverer of the phenomenon the same entity that predicted such a phenomenon would indicate the presence of alien intelligence?<\/li>\n
  • Does the phenomenon look like a known instrumental or psychological effect?<\/li>\n
  • What do the builders of the detecting instrument, or the experts on the detection method, say about the phenomenon?<\/li>\n
  • Is there a good reason to think the phenomenon is a hoax?<\/li>\n
  • How does a wide community of experts assess the probability that there\u2019s a natural or human-related cause for the phenomenon?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Points are given based on the answers to those questions, and factored together to produce a zero-to-1 value on the credibility scale. That, in turn, is factored in with the answers to questions about how far away the source of the signal is, whether it\u2019s possible to communicate with the signal\u2019s source, and whether the signal\u2019s sender is likely to be aware of us humans and our technology.<\/p>\n

    Like Rio 1.0, the Rio 2.0 scale ends up with a number between zero and 10, from no importance to extraordinary importance. \u201cNo current signal, not even the famous \u2018Wow! Signal\u2019 \u2026 currently scores greater than 1 on either Rio 1.1 or Rio 2.0,\u201d the newly published study\u2019s authors report.<\/p>\n