Should we stop telling LIES to space aliens?

[BeBMan]

The standard wisdom in interstellar diplomacy is to avoid controversy – a sometimes elusive goal. In the early 1970s, NASA attached plaques to two Pioneer spacecraft etched with basic mathematics, science and line drawings of a man and woman (see image at right). Some complained the space agency was sending "smut into space", with the naked figures revealing more than they deemed proper for a first encounter.

Other messages have escaped such criticism. One from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico depicts the human form in so few pixels that its sex is not clear. The Voyager recordings excluded war, poverty and disease.

However, a comprehensive message to the stars should not shrink from the details. Might not an advanced extraterrestrial species, savvy in the ways of intelligent being, notice that something was missing from our description of ourselves? An acknowledgment of our flaws and frailties seems a more honest approach than sending a sanitised, one-sided story. Honesty is a good starting point for a conversation that could last for generations.

If we continue to dodge controversy, we risk sending messages that are both brief and boring. We sometimes clash in our beliefs and customs; we disagree over matters of taste and morality. In no small part this diversity of perspectives is what characterises us as a species. And it may just make us intriguing enough to the inhabitants of other worlds to elicit a reply.

Full article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/...s-from-et.html

Discuss

[DanS]

Looks like the philosophers are trying to be scientists again.

[onodera]

We should've sent snuff porn into space.

[Kontiki]

Tubgirl should be broadcast to the cosmos.

[Berzerker]

I'm more worried about all the movies and TV showing us wiping out aliens, ETs out there getting that message might follow the Bush doctrine

[OzzyKP]

I'm more worried about all the movies and TV showing us wiping out aliens, ETs out there getting that message might follow the Bush doctrine

[Lancer]

The Earth will have melted by the time those messages get anywhere. The aliens will arrive to a huge desert or an endless ocean or radioactive cesspool and then what? The survivors living out their bleak lives in underground bomb shelters will be hit with false advertising.

I say we send out messages to stay away until we're extinct.

[Berzerker]

the aliens are hi tech, they charted the life bearing planets and have listening devices all around - like the monolith. Our signals travel slowly, not theirs. In any case, this is the reality - the signals we've been sending into outers pace will precede our contact with anyone listening.

[Lancer]

Great! We'll arrive at the same time as Liverne and Shirley reruns and they'll blast us.

[DaShi]

Aliens are avoiding us because we're boring.

[Unimatrix11]

To depict diversity in a message to a potentially powerful and aggressive, unknown species would be highly unwise - devide and conquer, anyone? Thus you demonstrate unity on such an occassion.

The question of trying to establish contact is highly interesting though (and i take it very serious) - for example: The Voyager missions were NASA doing it, right? The question is: Did they have the right to do that? I mean, isnt this one typical thing for the UN to decide on? I guess noone protested it, because the chances of success are vanishingly small.

Is trying to get in contact desirable? Due to the majority of factors being unknown, this question drifts into the philosophical sphere today - we could loose everything, but on the other hand, that day could be the greatest in human history. The Trekkie-version doesnt seem to far of in my mind - a second, outside perspective could utterly change human society. I mean, try it yourself: Try to take the perspective of an alien, looking ´down´ on earth and us - you will find, that we are like drug addicts, senselessly devouring our base of sustainance, pretending everything gets better each day. Clearly we are in need for help and could use advice. From this perspective, an alien invasion after contact seems unlikely - if an alien race has the time to travel betwen stars (even with time-dilitation taken into account), it probably also has the time, to wait a couple of more decades until the earth-money-junkies have physically broken down and will submit to them willingly as saviours.

I dont share the assessment, that we, as a race, are boring. We are too wicked, too emotional for that. We might be pathetic and full of drama - like a soap opera. We might have very little to offer except ourselves (to explore). While we hope to make technological and possibly societal advance by establishing contact, the other side would gain little more than what would be anthtopological studies (of some jungle-tribe for example) among humans (which, btw, makes the observation + occasional abduction theory the more likely alternative, if aliens wanted to learn about us, if compared to the conventional ´hello earthlings´-approach). Seen from there, we might be uninteresting, simply beneath the alien mind, but certainly we wouldnt be boring to those alien-freaks who´d pick up on us (again: think of soaps) and tried to understand how we tick. Just like most people find the cultural habits of the Massai-tribe (random example) rather uninteresting, but for some (outside the tribe), it´s the main content of their lives, studying and understanding them.

[YurYu]

Is trying to get in contact desirable? Due to the majority of factors being unknown, this question drifts into the philosophical sphere today - we could loose everything, but on the other hand, that day could be the greatest in human history. The Trekkie-version doesnt seem to far of in my mind - a second, outside perspective could utterly change human society. I mean, try it yourself: Try to take the perspective of an alien, looking ´down´ on earth and us - you will find, that we are like drug addicts, senselessly devouring our base of sustainance, pretending everything gets better each day. Clearly we are in need for help and could use advice. From this perspective, an alien invasion after contact seems unlikely - if an alien race has the time to travel betwen stars (even with time-dilitation taken into account), it probably also has the time, to wait a couple of more decades until the earth-money-junkies have physically broken down and will submit to them willingly as saviours.

If I was Joe the Alien I'd have better things to do then visit/conquer this weird alien world where the dominant lifeform seems to have only become moderately succesfull during this fertile period in between ice ages.
Perhaps if we can hang around for another few million years things can get more interesting.

[Unimatrix11]

Well, this would depend on how many halfway-intelligent species are out there and how many of been discovered by ´them´. If we´d be the first, we´d be interesting no matter what, i´d guess. If we´d be the 1,026th - not so much... Even perspectives seem to have a ´diminishing marginal value´ - the second is hugely more valueable than the thousandth. This can, btw, be used as a point pro-contact, as the sequence of discovery by a potentially superior alien race could mean the difference betwen cooperation and conquest.

[BeBMan]

We might have very little to offer except ourselves (to explore).

Or for dessert

[Unimatrix11]

Gosh - BeBro the brackets´ purpose was exactly to avoid such misunderstanding!