Space Scientists Fear ET May be Stones Fans!

Will the arrival of the Beatles hit "Across the Universe" to inhabitants near the North Star trigger a violent attack on Earth by alien Mick Jagger fans? 

Scientists at the Sound of Science Conference on the search for extraterrestrial life at Arizona State University  challenged the wisdom of broadcasting the Beatles "Across the Universe" to Polaris, the North Star.

Douglas Vakoch, a researcher with SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), said in an interview with New Science: “Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open discussion about the potential risks. It’s very charitable to send out our encyclopaedia, but that may short-change future generations.”

Vakoch has been very vocal on the subject since NASA announced their decision to shuffle the universe. He said in the Daily Telegraph:

“I have no fear that NASA’s latest transmission exposes Earth to any danger from aliens. 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.”

Signals to, and possibly from, intelligent aliens were the talk dejour at the “Sound of Silence” conference, referring to the "Great Silence" made famous by physicist Enrico Fermi ("If there's life in the Universe, where are they?").  The conference proposed to discuss new ways of searching for intelligent life forms. Some suggested aliens might be listening to cosmic microwave radiation, still others suggested we may even have a message encoded in our DNA.

As conference attendees pointed out, the Beatles transmission is hardly our first (or probably, last) outreach: the Voyager and Pioneer space probes, currently traveling towards the outer edges of the Milky Way, carry information about human biology, the Earth’s position in the solar system, and music.

Posted by Jason McManus.

 

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Related Galaxy posts:

MIT Asks: How Would Extraterrestrial Astronomers Study Earth?
"The Great Silence" -A Galaxy Insight
Harvard-Smithsonian Scientists Zero In On Key Sign of Habitable Worlds
Cruising the Goldilocks Zone -The Search for Super Earths
Dead Zones in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Non-Carbon Lifeforms -Why We May Overlook
NASA's Search for the Planet Vulcan
The Quest for Spock's Origins
 

Links:

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/sciencetech/scientists-fear-aliens-may-be-rolling-stones-fans/774

Comments

[knoxvilledaniel]

I think it would be great if somebody could make a rough estimate of how much information has been sent into space from Earth, deliberately or indirectly.

How many signals would reach alien receivers & still be recognized as being the product of our civilzation ? Would they deem us worthy of a reply, or a visit, if they were able to do either ?

& would they prefer the music of the Rolling Stones, The Who, or Bob Dylan ? ( I mention Bob Dylan because the new BSG used " All Along the Watchtower " in the episode " Crossroads ". )
Just kidding about their musical preference, I think.....

[Sarah]

Maybe this is a really dumb comment, but I thought there was an ever-increasing bubble of radio, microwave & TV signals beaming from earth into the universe, basically leaking out from all our various transmission. Or did I get the 'Hitler opening the Berlin Games' idea wrong as presented in 'Contact'?