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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Daniel Jassim writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James Simpson writes:
> > I have a Scientific American
> > that deals with the topic of alien contact, and how it may be to our peril if
> > and when it happens.
>
> If aliens are anything like humans, we may be in big trouble!
See: The Drake Equation. Insert variables, and calculate!
I remember a magnificent Asimov story that most recently appeared
in one of the two 'complete stories' volumes. I can't recall the
title, but the gist was this:
We've been receiving alien transmissions since the 1950s, but they
make no sense--they're non-repeating and seem to have no intelligible
contact. Yet nobody has tried answering for a very simple reason:
it's obvious that the messages are the product of cryptography.
_Military_ cryptography. And whatever civilisation is sending
these messages out, they're at war. The easiest way to stay
safe, then, is to stay quiet.
I'm hard pressed to remember who first suggested the idea that
became the Monolith in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001--but theirs was
much more sinister, the idea that an alien race would park a
device intended to be found so that they could come and 'harvest'
or destroy a threat before it arose. Else, the device itself
would hone in on transmissions and destroy the source. 'QUIET!'
In either case, one must be circumspect before answering any
spurious alien transmissions. Hasn't the UN been tackling this
question in the last three or four years, to try and come to a
protocol for handling contact should it happen?
best
LFB
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