Some people also predicted a terrible disaster. If we broadcast our existence to another planet, aliens will come and eat us alive, or bring something that is not delicious raw. In fact, if we are really delicious, they just need to take one of us for sample analysis, determine the amino acid sequence that makes human flesh delicious, and then synthesize the same protein on their own planet. Even if we are cooked as food, economically speaking, the high cost of transporting us to other planets will make gourmets lose their appetite. The message sent by Pioneer 10 was criticized by some people because it "leaked" our position in the Milky Way. Will we pose a threat to anyone because of this? We may be the most backward civilized world to communicate with, and the vast interstellar space is a natural isolation zone, which makes it impossible for us to be harassed by outsiders in the near future.
But anyway, it's too late to stop it. We have announced our existence. Marconi's original radio broadcast reached a fairly high intensity in the 1920s, and it has leaked out of the ionosphere. The spherical wave surface with the earth as the wave source is still expanding outward at the speed of light, and the advanced scientific and technological civilization can now hear the faint broadcasts in that wave surface: the singing of Enrico Karoko, the trial of biology teacher Scopold, the report on the results of the 1928 general election and the big jazz band. They are pioneers of earth culture and the first messengers we sent to other planets.
If there were technological civilization 50 light-years away, they would only receive these strange original signals now. Even if they are going to answer us as soon as possible with the fastest spaceship, we won't know for at least 50 years. "Pioneer 10" will take 1 10,000 years to fly this distance.
It's too late to flinch and hesitate. We have announced our existence to the universe. Although the way is definitely backward, groping and lacking in typicality, we finally announced our position.
The huge interstellar distance means that there will not be too distant interstellar radio conversations in the future. Suppose we receive a signal from a planetary civilization within a possible distance, such as three years, and it may say, "Hey, guys, how are you?" And we are ready for this moment, and immediately reply: "OK, how are you?" However, in this way, it will take 600 years for an exchange, and this kind of conversation is not simple and neat.
Although it takes 300 years for a radio signal to travel for three years, the amount of information it can transmit is enormous. In fact, with a slightly more advanced means than our existing equipment, we can basically send all the essence of our civilization in a few days. It will take 300 years to arrive, and it will only take a few days to deliver it. More colorful delivery is done in the other direction, from smart (them) to stupid (us). It is likely that many amazing information about the Milky Way is being launched to the earth in sets from all directions, and the advanced and primary contents are interspersed with each other, so that we can understand the communication language of the Milky Way.
European scholars spent more than a century trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics before discovering the Rosestone Tablet, which was translated by Yang Heqian Berlin. Some ancient languages, such as carved characters on Easter Island, Mayan characters and some kinds of Crete manuscripts, have not been completely destroyed so far. However, these are still human languages, which have the same biological instinct and coding ability as us, but are separated from us by hundreds to thousands of years in time. So, how can we expect a civilization that is far more advanced than us and originated from different biological principles to send us information that we can understand?
The difference between the transmission of Galactic language and the carving of ancient language lies in subjective willpower and intelligence. Easter Island is carved not for scientists in the 20th century, but to communicate with other residents (perhaps gods) on the same island. The purpose of passwords is to make information difficult to read, at least in general military intelligence. However, we are now considering the opposite. This is an anti-cryptography, which is dedicated to making it easy for anyone to understand. It is a very simple message designed by civilized creatures with very developed wisdom, and even primitive civilizations like us can understand it.
This information will be based on the similarity between the sending civilization and the receiving civilization. Of course, these similarities are not any oral or written language, nor any coding ability instinctively existing in our genetic material, but what we really have-the universe, science and mathematics around us. Now there is a schema that conveys mathematical propositions, conveys the concepts of addition, equality and negative numbers, and then forms deeper concepts in turn. There are also plans to send radio messages. From the number of bits that make up the information, you can see that it is an image at a glance. After reorganizing them into images, you can clearly understand it. The metal information board on Pioneer 10 is an example of this image. Advanced alien civilizations can understand it when it is sent as an object on a spaceship or as an image by radio. Similarly, we will understand similar information directed at us, as long as we are smart enough to listen.
Some people think that the lack of dialogue is annoying after all, as if meaningful dialogue is commonplace on this planet. Philip Morrison of MIT believes that cultural monologues in human history are completely normal. For example, the entire cultural heritage that profoundly affects our civilization will eventually spread in one way. We didn't pass on our wisdom to the Greeks, but the Greeks gave us their wisdom with paper and parchment. Although the Greeks did not use radio waves, the principle was the same.
In the long run, the scientific, logical, cultural and ethical knowledge gained by receiving the radio signals of galaxies may be the most far-reaching event in the history of our civilization. We will receive academic information that can no longer be called humanities, because the object of communication is not human at all. When we observe the universe and ourselves, we will be able to get rid of narrow ideas and open our horizons. Once we know that although we are so different from creatures on other planets, we still have something to be ignored and worth communicating in terms of rational interests, and human beings will look at our differences from a new perspective.
But at the same time, it is unlikely to form a leap. One day, information from other planets may be transmitted to our radio telescope at an alarming speed. It may take decades or even hundreds of years to decipher this information, understand its content, and apply what we have learned to our human world with great care.
In a short period of time, this kind of information may have little impact on human culture, mainly from the fact of receiving the information itself. At least in the United States, people now think that landing on the moon is a very common thing and relatively meaningless. Because we can say that even if we receive the information of civilizations from other planets, it will take a long time to decipher and understand the information, and it will not enter the minds of ordinary people.
The motivation of aliens is kindness. They were helped by this information when they were in infancy, which is a tradition worthy of connecting the past with the future. At present, the information described in some science fiction novels is evil: we are instructed to build some kind of machine, and we respectfully follow it. As a result, the machine was forced to kill the earth. However, no one will blindly build such a machine. No one will rashly carry out the instructions contained in the information of other planets until all the theoretical and scientific basis of the instructions are well understood. This is one of the reasons why the information of other planets has not caused much cultural impact recently. As long as we follow the most basic warnings, there will be no great danger in receiving such information.
It is suggested that the initial information we receive will include instructions to prevent self-destruction. Self-destruction is the fate that society may face soon after it enters the technical state. There are enough nuclear weapons on our planet to wipe out every man, woman and child many times. Some people think that advanced alien civilization will teach us the knowledge of stabilizing society. Their motivation may be altruism or egoism, and they want to keep a group of people for communication. Organisms and societies that have evolved independently for billions of years, the historical gap between them is huge; However, the possible prospect of this good response hypothesis cannot be ignored. This hypothesis points out that the existence of interstellar communication can expand the number of civilizations, which may be the force for our own survival.
Even if the communication between other planets does not bring instructions on how to avoid self-destruction, this assumption can produce good feedback in other aspects, which is the time scale problem. Governments on earth rarely plan for the next five years. For a person, he usually only makes a detailed plan in a short time. However, even if the search for intelligent life on other planets is unsuccessful, it will take decades or even hundreds of years. This will be a useful example of long-term planning. Please imagine what would happen if you received a message sent 300 years ago and spent 600 years discussing it! If we give the answer and wait for the answer, we will work persistently for this goal for a longer time, which is extremely unusual for all institutions created by human beings. At present, many tragedies in ecology are about to be attributed to long-term disasters caused by only paying attention to immediate interests and extremely terrible neglect. Interstellar civilization and the time scale of dialogue with it provide us with a sense of historical continuity, which is very important for the continuation of our civilization.