Thread: Making our name in space

In a recent 'New scientist' issue they brought out the discussion of sending out our own signal into space in case other sentient beings like us are listening. I thought it would be good to have a thread on whether it is generally a positive or negative thing. This may sound like a cosmology thread but it applies to the whole human race and would apply in multiple topics. Any comments welcome.

I view it as a bad idea. Here's why.

There are arguably three possible scenarios.

1. There is no one out there to receive our message, therefore sending it would be a wasted effort.
2. There are entities out there but they would be indifferent to any message, therefore sending it would be a wasted effort.
3. There are benign entities out there, so sending the message could lead to a productive interchange. Sending the message would definitely be worth the effort.
4. There are hostile entities out there. Sending the message would alert them to our existence and lead to our destruction. Therefore sending the message would be a very bad idea.

The risk of scenario 4 negates any possible benefits arising from scenario 3. Our ancestors did the smart thing and lived inconspicuously in burrows until the dinosaurs were gone. I advocate a similar approach until we know what we are up against.

It does seem quite far-fetched that some species would come all the way out here, taking decades if not centuries, just to kill us.

A proper game-plan deals in thousands or millions of years. Speaking of "us" as Earth life we're talking billions.

I say we catch them unprepared, and dominate them like we've dominated every other species.

5: Sending the message is irrelevant because the time to send it , them to receive it and them traveling to us would be so long that when they get here our pathetic civilization have allready destroyed itself. Ultimatly we would waste both theirs and ours time.

THIS would be the aliens response when arriving at our smoldering poisoned and ruined homeworld.

It does seem quite far-fetched that some species would come all the way out here, taking decades if not centuries, just to kill us.

Could be possible especially if they have interstellar technology an example is in a sci-fi book Halo where humans are exterminated for religious reasons.

I say we catch them unprepared, and dominate them like we've dominated every other species

Is this really the best thing to do? I thought we were over slavery and this could cause rebellion as well as a bad intergalactic image.

5: Sending the message is irrelevant because the time to send it , them to receive it and them traveling to us would be so long that when they get here our pathetic civilization have allready destroyed itself. Ultimatly we would waste both theirs and ours time.

I see your point but wouldn't it be good to be able to preserve our history instead of never being known to anyone/thing.

Originally Posted by drowsy turtle

It does seem quite far-fetched that some species would come all the way out here, taking decades if not centuries, just to kill us.

What if the species in question has a life span of ten thousand years? A two or three hundred year diversion to get rid of an annoyance would be no big deal. Alternatively they could send robots to do the job. If they had a history where a similar message had been ignored and they were almost wiped out by its originators, they would now take no chances (and no prisoners).

Originally Posted by zendra

I say we catch them unprepared, and dominate them like we've dominated every other species

Is this really the best thing to do? I thought we were over slavery and this could cause rebellion as well as a bad intergalactic image.

Even if you're a hardcore vegan, you have no idea. They're likely to be different; not just apples & oranges different.

Maybe they'll be graceful enlightened beings? In that case we worms should parasitize them. They could spread us throughout the galaxy.

Originally Posted by Ophiolite

I view it as a bad idea. Here's why.

There are arguably three possible scenarios.

1. There is no one out there to receive our message, therefore sending it would be a wasted effort.
2. There are entities out there but they would be indifferent to any message, therefore sending it would be a wasted effort.
3. There are benign entities out there, so sending the message could lead to a productive interchange. Sending the message would definitely be worth the effort.
4. There are hostile entities out there. Sending the message would alert them to our existence and lead to our destruction. Therefore sending the message would be a very bad idea.

The risk of scenario 4 negates any possible benefits arising from scenario 3. Our ancestors did the smart thing and lived inconspicuously in burrows until the dinosaurs were gone. I advocate a similar approach until we know what we are up against.

I very much like your logic of caution, understandable, practical, and right on

The Project Voyager golden records. "message of the human nation to other civilizations" There's a great time-lapse of Saturn's rings in the video, also coffee-spurt when you realize what Mimas looks like.

Nice symbolic gesture.