Thursday, May 25, 2006

Big Space

Speaking of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (my Improbability Drive must be kicking in), VariFrank interviews the SETI boss. He asks a very good question, "If we were to place the SETI radio telescope dish on, oh, let's say Pluto for example and scan towards Earth,from the signals that the Dish picks up,would we detect life on Earth?" He also asks a somewhat lower quality question, "I wonder if the 'Giant Squid of Tau Ceti' spend their spare time writing blogs?" Doug Adams would have liked that question better (RIP DNA).

5/25/2006 8:58 AM

2 Comments:

At Thursday, May 25, 2006 11:53:00 AM, Blogger anchovy said...

We used to write letters with pen and ink. Despite the telephone, radio, television and all that good stuff we still do essentially the same, albeit over a fancy network utlizing nifty communications protocols.

And what will we send to the ETs when we find them with our powerful satellite telescopes? Probably an add for penis enlargement pills. And we'll giggle like little schoolgirls as we do it. Some things don't change.

 
At Saturday, May 27, 2006 4:06:00 PM, Blogger jj mollo said...

Interesting point. As we waste less and less energy in our communications, we will be returning to an era when we cannot be seen from the outside. Covered networks send more messages for less energy, probably following Moore's Law. If this is the rule, it makes it seem less likely we will ever spot another civilization.

They might not know what to make of the penis enlargement ads, but you never know what they might find to be insulting or funny. They might not even have those concepts.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home