Post by K on Feb 14, 2008 20:09:53 GMT -5
Beatles space broadcast
Nasa started to beam the song towards the North Star, 431 light
years from Earth at midnight GMT on Monday, drawing congratulations
from former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon's widow, Yoko
Ono, who mused that it marked "the beginning of the new age in
which we will communicate with billions of planets across the
universe."
But today's New Scientist asks whether such signals could expose
us to the risk of attack from mean spirited aliens.
Scientists considered this question at the "Sound of Silence"
meeting at Arizona State University in Tempe this week.
"Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open
discussion about the potential risks," says Douglas Vakoch of the
Seti (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) Institute, Mountain
View, California.
Humankind has already given away our position in the solar system
and information about human biology on the Voyager and Pioneer probes,
and in a message sent from the Arecibo observatory in 1974.
"It's very charitable to send out our encyclopaedia, but
that may short-change future generations," Vakoch tells New
Scientist, calling for caution.
"I have no fear that NASA's latest transmission exposes
Earth to any danger from aliens," he tells The Daily
Telegraph.
"However, I do believe that even symbolic transmissions from
Earth deserve broad-based discussion before hitting "send."
"Although one-time transmissions to distant stars stand
little chance of being intercepted, they do set a precedent for
intentionally making ourselves known to other civilizations.
"I think the more important question is what we would want
to say about ourselves to other worlds, and that's something deserving
of global input," he says.
However, fellow Seti Institute researcher Seth Shostak is not
worried and writes off the fears as paranoid, given that "the one
thing we know about aliens - if they do exist - is that they are very,
very far away."
He adds that we have been announcing our presence for decades.
"Military radar signals have already penetrated deep into space,
and early broadcasts of Star Trek and I Love Lucy are washing over one
star system a day," says Shostak. "If they're listening,
they already know we're here."
The meeting - aptly titled "Sound of Silence" - was
told that after half a century of combing the skies, the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence hasn't heard a peep from any little
green men and women, and it may be time for a rethink.
"Have we been looking in the wrong place, at the wrong time,
in the wrong way?" asks conference organiser Prof Paul Davies of
Arizona State University. "The purpose of this meeting is to
brainstorm some radically new thinking on the subject. "
One idea is to focus on the cosmic microwave background, the
relic radiation left behind by the Big Bang that contributes to the
white noise in a poorly tuned television. Intelligent aliens are
likely to be "tuned" to this. Other debates concerned the
type of alien signals being sought.
"What other signatures of alien technology might we look
for, such as anomalously depleted resources, or debris from waste
products?," he tells the Telegraph.
"Could a message be buried in DNA? But we have also heard
from sceptics, for example, that it could be a fallacy to suppose that
"intelligence" is a biological niche waiting to be filled by
evolution. It may be just a quirky trait, like the elephant's
trunk."
Efforts to date have not covered much ground in scouring the
skies. However last year, the first of the 42 dishes of the Allen
Telescope Array began operation, which will be dedicated entirely to
SETI. And the proposed Square Kilometre Array telescope will be
sensitive enough to pick up signals such as alien TV and radio.
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
www.telegraph.co.uk
Nasa started to beam the song towards the North Star, 431 light
years from Earth at midnight GMT on Monday, drawing congratulations
from former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon's widow, Yoko
Ono, who mused that it marked "the beginning of the new age in
which we will communicate with billions of planets across the
universe."
But today's New Scientist asks whether such signals could expose
us to the risk of attack from mean spirited aliens.
Scientists considered this question at the "Sound of Silence"
meeting at Arizona State University in Tempe this week.
"Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open
discussion about the potential risks," says Douglas Vakoch of the
Seti (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) Institute, Mountain
View, California.
Humankind has already given away our position in the solar system
and information about human biology on the Voyager and Pioneer probes,
and in a message sent from the Arecibo observatory in 1974.
"It's very charitable to send out our encyclopaedia, but
that may short-change future generations," Vakoch tells New
Scientist, calling for caution.
"I have no fear that NASA's latest transmission exposes
Earth to any danger from aliens," he tells The Daily
Telegraph.
"However, I do believe that even symbolic transmissions from
Earth deserve broad-based discussion before hitting "send."
"Although one-time transmissions to distant stars stand
little chance of being intercepted, they do set a precedent for
intentionally making ourselves known to other civilizations.
"I think the more important question is what we would want
to say about ourselves to other worlds, and that's something deserving
of global input," he says.
However, fellow Seti Institute researcher Seth Shostak is not
worried and writes off the fears as paranoid, given that "the one
thing we know about aliens - if they do exist - is that they are very,
very far away."
He adds that we have been announcing our presence for decades.
"Military radar signals have already penetrated deep into space,
and early broadcasts of Star Trek and I Love Lucy are washing over one
star system a day," says Shostak. "If they're listening,
they already know we're here."
The meeting - aptly titled "Sound of Silence" - was
told that after half a century of combing the skies, the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence hasn't heard a peep from any little
green men and women, and it may be time for a rethink.
"Have we been looking in the wrong place, at the wrong time,
in the wrong way?" asks conference organiser Prof Paul Davies of
Arizona State University. "The purpose of this meeting is to
brainstorm some radically new thinking on the subject. "
One idea is to focus on the cosmic microwave background, the
relic radiation left behind by the Big Bang that contributes to the
white noise in a poorly tuned television. Intelligent aliens are
likely to be "tuned" to this. Other debates concerned the
type of alien signals being sought.
"What other signatures of alien technology might we look
for, such as anomalously depleted resources, or debris from waste
products?," he tells the Telegraph.
"Could a message be buried in DNA? But we have also heard
from sceptics, for example, that it could be a fallacy to suppose that
"intelligence" is a biological niche waiting to be filled by
evolution. It may be just a quirky trait, like the elephant's
trunk."
Efforts to date have not covered much ground in scouring the
skies. However last year, the first of the 42 dishes of the Allen
Telescope Array began operation, which will be dedicated entirely to
SETI. And the proposed Square Kilometre Array telescope will be
sensitive enough to pick up signals such as alien TV and radio.
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
www.telegraph.co.uk