{"id":19216,"date":"2016-10-10T20:32:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T12:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/a-not-so-simple-response-messages-beamed-to-aliens-amid-debate-over-perils\/"},"modified":"2016-10-10T20:32:40","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T12:32:40","slug":"a-not-so-simple-response-messages-beamed-to-aliens-amid-debate-over-perils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/a-not-so-simple-response-messages-beamed-to-aliens-amid-debate-over-perils\/","title":{"rendered":"A not-so-simple response: Messages beamed to aliens amid debate over perils"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_280858\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-280858\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-280858\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/161010-dish-aliens-630x511.jpg\" alt=\"Cebreros antenna\" width=\"630\" height=\"511\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/161010-dish-aliens-630x511.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/161010-dish-aliens-768x623.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/161010-dish-aliens.jpg 902w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-280858\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The European Space Agency\u2019s Cebreros Station in Spain was due to transmit an 866-second encoded radio message in the direction of Polaris, 434 light-years away. (Credit: ESA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>More than 3,000 messages were beamed toward the North Star today by a powerful radio telescope&nbsp;\u2013 and although the exercise was largely&nbsp;symbolic, it serves to revive a debate over whether we should be trying to contact aliens.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s transmission by the European Space Agency\u2019s Cebreros deep-space tracking station in Spain was the culmination of a yearlong effort known as \u201cA Simple Response to an Elemental Message,\u201d spearheaded by Irish-born artist Paul Quast.<\/p>\n<p>With support from ESA and other organizations, Quast and his collaborators solicited 3,775 text-only messages from around the world in response to this question: How will our present environmental interactions shape the future? The 14-minute digital transmission with all those answers was beamed toward Polaris, the North Star, at 8 p.m. GMT (1 p.m. PT).<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=785570909901950976&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2016%2Fasimple-response-messages-aliens%2F&amp;sessionId=33d3de9a1dc76a21424397b0db0af4eb0f47184e&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"785570909901950976\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782804038107132857=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">#MESSAGEINABOTTLE #ASIMPLERESPONSE ESA now transmitting 3000+ submissions toward the #NorthStar 434ly away pic.twitter.com\/UxKU5DLQYy<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ESA Operations (@esaoperations) October 10, 2016<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no evidence that Polaris harbors a habitable planet. Even if the Polarians exist, they won\u2019t get the message until around the year 2450. But if they\u2019re able to pick up today\u2019s message, they\u2019ll already have known about us from a Beatles song that NASA had transmitted toward Polaris in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Some scientists worry that such attempts to contact E.T. could just get us in trouble, a la \u201cIndependence Day.\u201d British physicist Stephen Hawking has been among those warning that it might be \u201ctoo risky\u201d to alert the rest of the galaxy to our existence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn\u2019t want to meet,\u201d he said back in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>That view resurfaced this August, in a column published by Nature Physics. Physicist Mark Buchanan argued that earthlings should resist the temptation to broadcast powerful signals to the stars. \u201cAt worst the consequences could be catastrophic. \u2026 At the very least, the idea seems morally questionable,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"icon-quotes-left\"><\/span>&nbsp;If we are in danger of an alien invasion, it\u2019s too late.<span class=\"icon-quotes-right\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This month, METI International\u2019s Doug Vakoch provided a not-so-simple response in Nature Physics.<\/p>\n<p>On one hand, he noted that we\u2019ve already been broadcasting our existence for decades. \u201cIf we are in danger of an alien invasion, it\u2019s too late,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, Vakoch argued that there\u2019s a potential cost to staying silent&nbsp;\u2013 \u201cfor example, missing guidance that could enhance our own civilization\u2019s sustainability, or averting attacks from aliens who would otherwise annihilate us for not reaching out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The arguments stray into the kind of science-fiction territory covered by Hollywood movies like the soon-to-be-released \u201cArrival.\u201d But Vakoch had a down-to-earth suggestion for future messages to extraterrestrial intelligence, a.k.a. METI.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cScientists already have a process for judging the merit of METI projects: peer review,\u201d Vakoch said. \u201cDecisions about allocating time for METI at publicly funded observatories should rely on the same procedure used for competing experiments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"icon-quotes-left\"><\/span>&nbsp;The repercussions \u2026&nbsp;are just too great for this to be decided by a small group of scientists alone.<span class=\"icon-quotes-right\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Washington State University astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch took a slightly different perspective in an essay written for Smithsonian Air &amp; Space.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think this is a matter to be settled by scientific peer review,\u201d he said. \u201cThe repercussions of sending a message and possibly getting a response \u2014 or even an alien visit \u2014 are just too great for this to be decided by a small group of scientists alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schulze-Makuch suggested that international protocols,&nbsp;presumably&nbsp;established by the United Nations, should determine which messages we address to the&nbsp;aliens \u2014 and which procedures we follow if we get a reply.<\/p>\n<p>So who should be in charge? The diplomats or the generals, the scientists or the crowds? It sounds like the plot for dozens&nbsp;of movies and TV shows about alien contact, going back decades. And it sounds like an issue that someone should be taking seriously at last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Space Agency\u2019s Cebreros Station in Spain was due to transmit an 866-second encoded radio message in the direction of Polaris, 434 light-years away. (Credit: ESA) More than 3,000 messages were beamed toward the North Star today by a powerful radio telescope&nbsp;\u2013 and although the exercise was largely&nbsp;symbolic, it serves to revive a debate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4409,1874,3754],"class_list":["post-19216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-aliens","tag-astrobiology","tag-seti"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19216\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}