Alien Contact

It’s probably realistic to assume that we will comprehend the aliens only if they are broadcasting deliberately, trying to communicate with other worlds. They could be engaged in altruistic efforts either to enlighten their neighbors or simply get in touch with young, technological societies such as our own. In that case they’ll devise a message that can be decoded fairly straightforwardly.

Since it’s overwhelmingly likely that any civilization we detect will be technologically far older than our own, the message would be of great interest. The aliens could allow us to short-circuit thousands of years of research into physics, astronomy, and chemistry, and tunnel our way into a far more sophisticated future. This could be compared to the rediscovery of classical science during the Renaissance, but would be of much greater magnitude. (Mind you, this windfall of knowledge will impose certain burdens. Scientists, for example, will suddenly be confronted with answers to research problems that have consumed their entire careers. These earthly scientists may not be entirely gratified to yield their chance for a Nobel Prize to the aliens!)

Department of Education, Mexico A Mayan Codex - a cryptological puzzle from the past

Such a sudden discovery of knowledge is possible, and it’s an exciting thought. But it’s also conceivable – and I personally think more probable – that the message will be difficult and perhaps impossible to decode. Imagine if the classical Greeks were given the bits belched out by a modern telecommunications satellite. The Greeks were not dumb, but they wouldn’t get very far in understanding this torrent of information.

The same could well happen to us. Imagine everyone from professional cryptographers to amateurs with a flair for puzzles taking a crack at understanding the hieroglyphics from space. The aliens’ message would become the equivalent of a Mayan Codex or the Dead Sea Scrolls. Centuries of human effort might be expended in an attempt to understand this cosmic riddle beamed our way from a society we can never meet. When the headlines of the initial discovery are only a distant memory, humankind might still be busying itself with the message.

The signal is the message