Why the Silence from E.T.?

Humorous, but as in all good humor, a kernel of truth? I was thinking on this very thought for awhile - would advanced, especially postbiologic, beings either destroy themselves or get so wrapped up in virtual reality technology that they turn inwards and not actively care about technologically primitive aliens (not care enough to contact them)?



Reference:
Weiner, Zac. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. 18 Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Sept. 2010.

Alien Visitors - How to Say "Hello, World"?

Alien Etiquette Faux Pas

In ABC's "V," a rich source for those who like to speculate on alien realities, the Visitors arrive in very large space craft. Some critics think that such arrivals could not happen without our noticing. However, we Earthlings already are working on cutting edge stealth technologies that address making objects invisible to various frequencies  so it is not far-fetched to think that an even more advanced alien species would have perfected such technology. (Do these critics not have access to Discover, Scientific American, Science News, Discovery Channel, or the Science Channel?)

For me their arrival presents a different problem involved with first contact. After 9/11, and after watching movies like Independence Day and District 9, surely an advanced race would realize arriving in large ships unannounced to a jittery planet would be a monumental faux pas. Maybe early in the universe, the first space explorers made such faux pas, but it seems logical that they learned that one needs to study another planetary species carefully, learning their culture and language before contact

Lost in Space Translation (and You Thought Learning Klingon was Hard...)

But learning the culture and language of another world is fraught with incredible difficulties. Aliens that perceive the world differently than we do (live in a water world with heavier gravity, no land masses, and circling a binary star for instance), who use a different means of communicating (communicate via light, or electromagnetism, for instance), and have a different physiology and psychology (asexual, cold-blooded, egg-laying, creatures that feed by sucking the fluids out of other creatures) would have very different frames of references than we do.

And since our words have connotations, and we tend to use idioms and tropes (such as metaphors), an alien would need to understand not only our alphabets, syllabaries, and pictographs, but they would have to enter an strange world more foreign to them than our alien (to them) planet: our minds - what makes us tick. 

Think about how difficult that would be. Imagine how difficult it would be for a sentient creature that communicates via light and can see the color blue, a color to which it attaches an emotional sexual connotation, describe that color and convey its connotations to an alien sentient creature that is impassively asexual, blind, and communicates via sound. This goes beyond "lost in translation."

The Internet and World Contact Day

Thus, an alien species, from "neighbors" saying hi to those bent on being our overlords, would likely put long effort into studying us secretly at first: learn our languages and try to decipher and understand our culture, traditions, and psychology. Although, with the advent of the Internet, we've just made the job not only easier, but so much more fruitful - they can gather so much intel from afar by just tapping into our Internet via eavesdropping on our satellites.

Maybe we've hastened the arrival of World Contact Day. Time to learn The Recognized Anthem Of World Contact Day: "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft."


Image credit: 1. 20th Century Fox     2. A&M Records

Level 1 Parallel Words Addendum

Level 1 Déjà Vu Speculations

Earlier in Parallel Universe - are some aliens ourselves? I discussed the parallel universe essay by Dr. Max Tegmark, Cosmologist from the University of Penn. In an infinite universe, or a sufficiently large enough one, other Earths exist far far away, with the same history - a Level 1 parallel universe. These parallel universes are regions that are beyond our cosmic horizon - regions beyond the limit of our ability to see or detect. They need to be that far so that the region can be parallel - two Earths in the same space would not be parallel since they would not have the same night sky, the same environment, and observing each other could upset the parallel developments. They exist now, in the past, and yet to be, all echoing our Earth in history. Even with true random chance and free-will, another Earth can accidentally follow ours. Infinity is an eerie thing. We have twins out there. Maybe this level 1 parallel universe explains déjà vu as we somehow in some quantum manner not yet discovered connect dimly at times with our exact duplicates. Of course that would mean at the exact time we experience déjà vu, so would our double.

Jinx!

I wonder, though, if it is necessarily true that parallel Earths have to be in regions beyond our comic horizon. Could a region of space, in an infinite universe, be of such special symmetry that two identical inhabited planets could orbit separate but identical stars and still see the same constellations, have the same interstellar environment? And in discovering each other, discover each other at the exact same time, in the same exact way? It may be the rarest of the rares, but in an infinite universe, could it not still happen? How weird, and frustrating, that would be for the explorers engaging in first contact: both speaking the same thing at the same time (and marveling that they both speak the same language and look and sound the same), flipping a coin to break the impasse and both saying "heads" at the same time, so go to a quantum random number generator to break the impasse (to decide who speaks first, for instance) and while both being truly random still, by chance, coming up with the same number... Probably the further apart, the more likely random effects could affect message transmissions such that the impasse would be finally broken. But I can not help but think in a truly infinite universe, there would be a place where each Earth would always simultaneously echo/parrot each other in perfect unison - hopefully, for those two twin worlds, there would be something in physical laws of the universe that would prevent the perfect parroting from being eternally true.

Breaking the Jinx

Maybe it would be better that another Earth would be similar but not the same. It would aid in establishing a real dialogue. On a theological note, can slightly different Earths be our afterlife/reincarnation (choosing, living, other paths as ourselves)?

The Visitors...

The Visitors arrive...


Yet another alien invasion show. Not that that's a bad thing (the show that is - alien invasion would be a bad thing). I am looking forward to the re-imagining of the 80's series. However, it got me to thinking again about the possible motivations for an alien species to invade the Earth, and the many difficulties involved with invading an already populated planet.

1. Atmosphere: a sentient species will be evolved to their specific environment. Slight changes can prove to be very toxic. An alien invading Earth would need to be able to breathe our particular blend of gasses. That would be a rare alien. Ah, but what about spacesuits or masks? True, those would help, but then why take over a planet that you can not breathe unassisted on? I would think it be easier to terraform a barren, or nearly so, planet than to "terraform" one with an already fully developed ecosystem. Though as mentioned in previous posts, postbiologic / robotic sentience creatures probably can withstand a very wide range of atmospheres.
   
   
2. Nutrition/Dietetics: a sentient species coming to Earth to use us as food would run the risk of finding us to be indigestible or even poisonous. Even if their genetics/physiology are somehow close to ours (that DNA is somehow a normal result of biochemical processes leading to life in the universe), there are many example on Earth where food that is nutritious to one creature, is not nutritious to another (and may even be poisonous). Of course, if the aliens find Earth life to be eatable, it stands to reason that Earth life would, in turn, find the aliens eatable as well, from mammalian predators to invertebrate parasites.
   
   But it is more likely that our physiological makeup will be too different to be of any use dietetic use. The To Serve Man recipe book would not be a top seller for aliens. Although if Earth animals were heavily processed, the aliens possibly could get some food value from them - but a lot of work for little return. Why not find a suitable barren planet, terraform it, and raise food more suitable to their physiology? If the aliens are postbiologic, which many think aliens would probably be (a next natural step in evolution for sentient species), they probably do not need biological food anymore anyway.
   
   
3. Disease/Immunity: I have read conflicting opinions on this matter. One opinion is that humans and disease have evolved side by side - it's a continual arms race as our immune systems evolve to better protect, and diseases evolve to defeat our systems. An alien system would be, well, alien. Diseases have evolved to attack other Earth creatures and are finely tuned to Earth creatures and thus would not be able to attack an alien creature. Others are of the opinion that an alien would be wide open to attack, since their defense systems have never seen Earth diseases and thus have no finely tuned defenses or mechanisms to block or fight them.
   
   In addition to diseases, there are all manner of venomous arachnids, insects, snakes, toads and poisonous plants that an alien would have to contend with. Many would not care if the creature they are in contact with is from the Earth or not. How many of us have put a straw or stick into an ant hill and see the ants swarm and viciously attack the stick? Would the alien bodies be able to tolerate foreign venom or poison?
   
   However, with advanced nanotechnology (or technology advanced beyond it), aliens may very well have postbiologic systems to help them deal with diseases, venomous creatures, and poisonous plants - such matters may be of no real threat or concern to them.
   
   
4. Other environmental factors: we have evolved in a particular gravity well, in a particular magnetic field, with certain ranges of light and other radiation hitting our planet's surface, and a certain range of temperatures. Any invading alien would need to have come from a planet similar to ours if they have any plans for long term domination. Unless, of course, they are postbiotic creatures.
   
   
5. Water: many alien invasion scenarios have aliens coming for our water. Yet we are discovering that water is rather common in the cosmos. There is water on the moon, Venus, Mars, many of the moons of our gas giants, in comets and meteors. Why mess with a populated planet when water is probably much closer to home?
   
   
6. Overpopulation: some alien scenarios have aliens invading because their home planet is overpopulated. I guess their entire solar system would have to be too, for them to move out into the stars to expand. If they were postbiologic and still felt the need to increase their population, they could easily colonize barren systems first or large space stations (Dyson spheres?).
   
   
7. Salvation I: several scenarios have dying aliens coming to Earth in order to do medical experiments to either create some vaccine or gene therapy that can restore the alien's health, or to create alien-human hybrids so that the aliens can continue to live on, albeit in a rather different form. Besides the difficulties of two species evolving on two planets being compatible enough to be of any use to the other medically, again it would seem logical that an interstellar space faring race would be able to evolve into postbiological forms and thus not need to invade another planet to save their species. Though Studying other biologies can help uncover any universal biology laws and principles and thus help a species understand itself better.
   
   But let us say, for the sake of argument, that they cannot or are unwilling to go the postbiologic route and need to leave their star system (going nova?) and colonize another system (ours) and thus need to create hybrids to survive in our very alien environment (this scenario also assumes they cannot or do not have time to terraform another unpopulated world). A hybrid would feel and be different than the aliens - it would be a new species, experiencing the universe differently, and thus evolving away from the invading alien's culture and identity. How is that helping anything? They might as well just impart their knowledge to another race and consider the torch passed and not bother with the whole hybrid thing.
   
   
8. Salvation II: ala The Day the Earth Stood Still, aliens may invade to save us from ourselves, baring any alien version of a Prime Directive, or to prevent us from being a danger to our space neighbors (not all of our space neighbors may be advanced enough to be safe from dangerous space faring races).
   
   
9. Salvation III: alien missionaries come to convert us.

I am sure there is more that I have not thought of.

Alien Missions

Overall, it seems that for the most part postbiologic creatures would have very little drive to invade another planet. At least for physical reasons. But they may have psychological or theological reasons. For instance they find the postbiologic evolutionary step incredibly repugnant or blasphemous. They may fear for their safety or for the safety of other less develop extraterrestrial species and decide to keep us restrained or contained until we, in their minds, have matured enough. Maybe they have long forgotten their own early sentience past and look upon our aggression with psychological or theological horror. They may look upon us as heathens and feel the need to forcibly spread their theology upon us. Now those are scary thoughts indeed.

Image credit: ABC

Earth Speaks? - SETI Research Project Wants Your Input!

Earth Speaks is a SETI Institute research project where they pose the two part question:

“If we discover intelligent life beyond Earth, should we reply, and if so, what should we say?”

As I have addressed in many previous blog posts on alien contact, this is an important question.

The Earth Speaks project would like your response to that question. Should we reply? Why or why not?  If we should reply, what do you think we should say? How do you think should we present ourselves? How do we address the issues of the differences between our and the alien's philosophies, theologies, and customs as well as language idioms and means of communicating? 

Join Earth Speaks (it's free) and add your response to that enduring question.

Earth Speaks project home page:
<http://earthspeaks.seti.org/>

Earth Speaks on Twitter:
<http://twitter.com/SETiEarthSpeaks>


Image credit: 1. Lynette Cook.

A Reason Not to Contact?

Shoot Stone First, Ask Questions Later

A little while back CNN had a story about a strange creature in Panama that crawled out of some rocks towards a group of teenagers, who upon seeing it, got scared and stoned the slow moving hairless beast to death. Speculation is that it was a type of young sloth, though one with a genetic abnormality.

I think that possibly space faring aliens would theorize something like that could happen, and would prefer to not visit a panicky bunch of apes, or at least put it off until those apes became a bit more sophisticated. So they observe instead - not bothering to contact us. (Maybe UFO sightings are their way of safely testing our aggressiveness to strangers from time to time - trying to gauge by our reactions when it is safe to take the next step.)

I, Avatar, Come in Peace

Or, if they did want to visit, another reason to send avatars - robot/android explorers that the aliens could control from the safety of their orbiting mothership. No worries about germs, poisonous gasses (to the aliens) in the air, and panicky locals.

Dangerously Lost in Translation: The Difficulties Inherent in Alien Communication

Contact is fraught with enough difficulties from method of communication, to language differences, to customs (including what is considered rude, blasphemous, or criminal), that meeting actually in person would probably be not advised. Send in the avatars (or better yet, observe the sentient beings, determine how the communicate, learn it, and then, when you think they are ready, send them a message from a safe distance).

Music to an Alien's Ears?

Interstellar Message Composition

The SETI Institute has an interesting (but not unexpected if you think about it) department: Interstellar Message Composition. Is Director, presently Dr. Douglas Vakoch, a psychologist, is charged with figuring out how to create a message that would communicate, inform, aliens about Earth and humanity. It is a most challenging task. To help him with this task, he is gathering mathematicians, scientists, and artists.

Mathematically Speaking?

Mathematics is considered, at least by mathematicians, to be a universal language. After all, it seems logical that all higher order intelligent sentient species would need to devellop an understanding of mathematics if they are to explore and apply the physical laws of the universe. If physical laws are constant in the universe, or at least in our region, then the mathematics would be the same as well.

Of course, there are some limitations to communication via mathematics. Sure, we can establish that we are both burdened with trying to solve differential equations. We can show each other that we all know the Fibonacci sequence (though the aliens will, undoubtedly, call it by a different name), but how do we use mathematics to communicate a smell of coffee in the morning, the beauty of a butterfly fluttering between flowers, or the incredible delicious taste of Mochi cream (the best Japanese sweet ever made).

Making Sense With Different Senses

There is a connection between music and mathematics. As explained in the Exploratorium article on the SETI mission to craft a message to the stars

Music is largely rooted in math, a quality that makes it a good candidate as a form of interstellar communication. Aesthetically, humans seem to seek patterns, and many of the melodies we find pleasing often contain some sort of mathematical pattern.

I grant you that music is largely rooted in math. Bach's music, which I love, is very mathematical. Humans are pattern seekers, and it could be argued that most intelligent sentient beings would be likewise. Also, I understand that since a love for music is inherent in humans, generally speaking, informing aliens about music is helping to inform them of what it is to be human. However, what is music to our ears, may be just a strange mish-mash of mathematical patterns to an alien's. To them, at best it could be a strange noise.

What if  the aliens communicate with each other through light - changing colors as well as intensity, or, if they have several light producing organs, via changing the number of lights visible as well as pulse lengths. The mathematical patterns for what passes as music to them - a light symphony - could be very different from the mathematical patterns produced by human musical instruments, or the human voice.  These human produced sounds may not translate well, and have the aliens pondering the meaning behind the weird signal they were receiving. Would they think to convert the radio pulses into light pulses? But how to convert? Which radio frequency or pulse should be three lights blinking twice, and which should be two lights blinking three times and changing color? It would be a meaningless message - a failed message.

And what of the possibility that some aliens may communicate through their version of a sense of smell? As some languages have a limited syllabary which still yields a large number of meaningful words created from combining different syllables in different orders, so could a olfactory language be made up of a limited "syllabary" of orders or chemical signals. Such signals would be difficult to overlap, and so there would be no equivalent for chords, or harmonies. How would our music translate to them? Would they have anything equivalent to music, something they could see our music as an analogy to of theirs, or would our music leave them utterly confused?

Lost in Translation

If there is difficulty in translating between two Earth languages, how much more so would there be between an Earth language and an alien language? Different Earth languages have different rhythms, different patterns, and different idioms. It is difficult enough to translate technical manual (as comedians like to poke fun at from time to time), but to translate poetry can sometimes be nearly impossible. It may very well be the same with sending music out as a way to communicate the Earth and humanity to the aliens. They may find what we send the mathematical equivalent of a babbling fool, or dismiss what they "hear" as mysterious noise that may, or may not, have an artificial origin.

And then there is cultural differences. What if music is only used as a means of communicating aggression, or to mate, or to mark territory? They may see the mathematical roots, and realize it is a message sent by another sentient species, but they may have quite a different interpretation of what it means.

Pardon My Alien Faux Pas.

Maybe that is why aliens have been silent. If some of the reports of UFO are authentic, and there are aliens observing us, they have been rather quiet and evidence has been fleeting - maybe it is because there are such differences between them and us that observation of culture is first needed - so that dangerous faux pas are avoided. Alien cultures can be, and most likely are, extremely different from ours. If communication problems have caused painful faux pas between Earth cultures then it is highly likely that communication problems between us and aliens would be astronomically more difficult and fraught with faux pas.

The desire to communicate with aliens is understandable. It is in our nature to explore. And any aliens venturing out into the stars will be explorers themselves. The thirst for knowledge is hard to resist. However, communicating with aliens is something we should approach with much caution and patience.

Freshman Interstellar Message Composition 101

But if we could communicate, what new and exciting classes would be taught at college!

Interesting stuff, this.


Reference:

"Douglas Vakoch and Interstellar Message-Making." Origins: Astrobiology: The Search for Life.n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2009. <http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/arecibo/tools/vakoch.html> Exploratorium.

Image credits: 1. Lynette Cook.  2. Animation Factory

The Sun's Twin? (and does that mean another Earth as well?)

Another Sol?

An article by Bob Berman in this month's (Oct 2009) issue of Astronomy mentions that

of the 1,000 nearest stars within 3 dozen light-years, only one matches our Sun's temperature, size, and luminosity and has the same precise spectral class of G2V (a main sequence star with a surface temperature of about 9980 degrees Fahrenheit...).

In addition, that twin star is similar in age, though a bit older: the Sun is 4.6 billion years old, while this twin star is 5 to 6 billion years old.

One in a Thousand

That twin star? Alpha Centauri A. As Bob Berman points out - of all those 1,000 stars the only one that is the Sun's close twin is also the nearest naked-eye star (4.35 light-years away). An amazing coincidence. 

Hopefully the new generation telescopes, especially the whose main tasks are to search for exoplanets, will aim their sights on the Centauri trinary system. It would almost be criminal not to take a closer look. If there is a terrestrial planet circling Alpha Centauri A, the new generation telescopes should be able to find it. With Alpha Centauri A a bit older than the Sun, unless life evolved on Earth quicker than usual, a terrestrial planet in a habitable zone around Alpha Centauri A would have had plenty of time for sentient life to arise.

Long Distance Relationship

Of course, maybe sentient life does not survive its early years of sentience and there is no longer any sentient life to discover... But let us be optimistic for a moment and say that it survives. 4.35 light-years away would allow for communication via radio waves or laser. Sure, it would take 8.7 years for each message to be answered (4.35 years for it to travel there, and 4.35 years for the answer to travel back), but it still could be done.

But should we try to communicate with them? The wonders are tempting, but there is the possibility of danger...


References

"Alpha Centauri - A Candidate for Terrestrial Planets And Intelligent Life." Smoot Group Cosmology. The Smoot Group. 15 Oct. 1997. Web. 30 Aug. 2009. <http://aether.lbl.gov/www/classes/p139/speed/Alpha-Centauri.html>

Berman, Bob. "A dozen cool facts." Strange Universe. Astronomy. Oct 2009: 16. Print.


Image Credit: The Smoot Group.

Parallel Universe - are some aliens ourselves?

What-what-what?!

Dr. Max Tegmark, Cosmologist from the University of Penn., discusses in his essay "Parallel Universes" the possibility of four levels of parallel universes. Levels 2 - 4 involve different universes, but a level 1 parallel universe exists within our own. As Kyle Broflovski's mom would say, "What-what-what!?!"

At first thought, Mrs. Broflovski's reaction would be warranted. But think a minute about the wacky nature of infinity. If our universe is infinite, and the laws of physics remain the same, then in an infinite universe there has to be other conditions that create other Earths - with another you living on it.

Level 1 Parallel Universes

Dr. Tegmark states that these parallel universes are regions that are beyond our cosmic horizon - that is, regions beyond the limit of our ability to see or detect (approximately 40 billion light years. We can see 14 billion light years away, but because of expansion, by the time the light reaches us, the object we see is now 40 billion light years away). This region of space is the Hubble volume or horizon volume. Since we cannot see beyond this volume, it can be considered a "universe." The other regions are other "universes," some being parallel to ours. All the regions are contained by one multiverse.

For Dr. Tegmark, these parallel universes will, at some point, diverge from ours. In many ways, this is similar to the quantum parallel universe (level 3 parallel universe) where different possibilities - story lines, if you will - exist. For him, then, there is still essentially a uniqueness to each level 1 parallel universe. But in a truly infinite universe, is that necessarily the case? Can there be Earths parallel to ours in every way? In an infinite universe, even an incredibly complex chain of random choices and events will be duplicated. And, in an infinite universe, the most incredible rarities can still happen an infinite number of times (infinity can be the ultimate head trip - or headache!).

Star Trek (TOS) episode "Miri."
© Paramount Pictures

As mentioned above, each "universe" is a Hubble volume. Conservatively, the nearest copy of our Earth is 10^(10^29) meters away. However, Dr. Tegmark admits that the nearest copy could be much closer (for the mathematics involved, see his section I of his essay). Infinity may predict that on very rare occasions similar (or even exact) Earths would be within contact range of each other.

Differences Between Level 1 and Level 3

One difference between level 1 and level 3 parallel universes is that when there is a possibility of an action or event happening in different ways, in the level 1 parallel universe the different results happen in different regions of the same multiverse, but in a level 3 parallel universe a brand new multiverse is created for each possible outcome. Another difference is that in the level 1 parallel universe, the different result does not have to happen at the same time. In some regions, there are Earths just like ours but millions of years older. In other regions, a solar system is just forming - one that will create another Earth.

Hello Me, This Is Me

Some aliens can be different copies or versions of us. Maybe one day we will receive a signal, and we will think it was our own somehow bounced back, but no, it will be from another Earth.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 166–167).

Reference:

Tegmark, Max. "Parallel Universes." Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology, and Complexity. J.D. Barrow, P.C.W. Davies, & C.L. Harper eds. Cambridge University Press, 2004. 459 - 491. Also posted at <http://www.wintersteel.com/files/ShanaArticles/multiverse.pdf>.

Updates polls, links

Finally back from my vacation and ready to jump back into this blog. I've updated the exoplanet links and replaced the old poll with a new one. You can go to Polls to see the archived results of past polls.

The results of the last poll was interesting - at least to me. As much as I am deeply interested in the search for exoplanets and the discovery of alien life, I am conservative when it comes to the matter of contacting any alien civilization. Should we purposefully beam messages to the stars? For me there is a hesitation as there are possible risks involved that need to be kept in mind. But 85% of those responding to the poll said they thought we should purposefully beam messages to the stars. I would love to hear why you all believe we should.

Alien Superiority Complex

© DigitalBlasphemy.com

In the last post I mentioned the Popular Science article "Could Robot Aliens Exist." In it, NASA astrophysicist Steven Dick wonders if postbiological aliens, in their superior advanced bodies and computer minds, would not be interested in us because either our minds may be too primitive for them to be able to communicate with us, or " they might consider meatheads like us too primitive to warrant their attention" (83).

Maybe. But I still think they would be interested in us.

On our planet, there are many primitive minded creatures that we do, on a limited basis, communicate with. Our pet dogs understand commands and have been shown recently the ability to map language, which is something that was thought to belong only to the province of humans. Chimpanzees and apes have shown the ability to communicate by sign language. Sure, we can't debate philosophical questions with Fido or Koko, but it is technically communication nonetheless. Not all humans care about this. Likewise, there may be some, even only a few, of the superior aliens who may be fascinated in just how much communication can occur between them and humans. And maybe they will be a little surprised at how much communication can occur.

However, I wonder if it is a fair analogy to begin with. While dogs and apes are self-aware, like humans, they re not aware that the area the live in is but a small part of a planet which is circling a sun in a galaxy that is in a universe with many dimensions, and are not increasing their awareness. However, we are aware. And, as a species overall, are continually increasing our awareness. Sure, we don't understand - yet - the nature of it all, and continually find more questions than answers, but that doesn't mean that we are to the aliens like apes, dogs, or ants are to us. We have the capacity to understand much more than we do at the moment - and we will understand more than we do at the moment. That they are ahead of us in knowledge and experience does not make us impossible to communicate with.

Even if they are aware of something that is as beyond the universe as the universe is beyond the local awareness of an ape - the earlier analogy still does not work. We know the ape cannot be made to understand that there is an awareness beyond their local awareness. But we can be made to understand. We can work with analogies and the abstractions and can be told by advanced aliens that there is yet a greater awareness beyond what we are cognizant of. We may not, at present, be able to wrap our heads around that greater awareness, but we may be able to wrap our heads around the fact that there is a greater awareness beyond what we are presently capable of. And as we head toward the Technology Singularity we may, sooner rather or later, be capable of wrapping our heads around that greater awareness (Some predict the Technology Singularity will arrive as soon as 2040, others by 3000).

And even without the Technological Singularity, human beings of today are aware of and working to wrap their heads around, incredible concepts (11 dimensions any one?) that human beings of 10,000 years ago were not even remotely aware of. Our brains, as primitive to postbiological creatures as they may be, are still remarkable organs - they can be rewired, they can make new connections, and they can achieve greater awareness. Plus, our brains may not be static - there are evolutionary pressures on our brains to evolve further as we advance technologically and culturally (though the latter seems to lag behind the former). There are limits to how far the brain can evolve on its own - thus the need for the Technological Singularity and postbiological life (or technology enhanced biological life).

So the analogy of "aliens are to us like we are to dogs" such that the aliens just won't be able to communicate with us is not an appropriate analogy. Dogs do not have anywhere near the same potential to increase their awareness as we do (if we give them a few million years to evolve further, maybe then).

I think a more appropriate analogy would be modern human to a Neanderthal or Cro-magnon. The aliens would most likely have to greatly oversimplify the smilies used to teach us, or introduce the idea of, advanced concepts, and thus would definitely have to skip the details, but some limited communication regarding the advanced awareness could occur. Communication may be slow, difficult and, at times, frustrating for both parties, and details will have to be left out, but they would be able to communicate with us. And we would strive to increase our understanding. OK, not all of us individually, but overall, as a species, enough would be.

© Animation Factory

OK, so say they can, with difficulty, communicate with us. But are we still "meatheads" and thus too primitive to warrant their attention? Why? Are sentient species only interested in what is at their level? I doubt they got to their level by that kind of narrow thinking. Exploring the universe, gathering knowledge and experience, discovering new aspects and new questions along with finding the occasional answer is what will most likely drive a species to push their intellectual evolution in the first place.

If humanoid sentient creatures like Earthlings are common or if not common, then at least common enough that they've already encountered beings rather similar to us at least once before, the aliens may not believe we warrant their attention.

But let us say that Earthling like creatures are not common. There is probably one large rainbow of possibilities for life, including sentient life, in the universe. We may warrant attention because they've never seen anything like us. One of yet another unique worlds in the galaxy, adding new data, new knowledge, and, possibly, new questions for the aliens to consider. And one way to learn about these wacky Earthlings, besides observation, is to communicate with them - even if it is an everyday level of communication, or alien kindergarten level of communication.

Also, keep in mind that we are growing, we are working our way toward their level. And that alone may warrant curious, or cautionary, attention from the aliens.

References:

"Could Robot Aliens Exist?" Popular Science. Sept. 2008: 83. Print.

Kurzweil, Ray. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Vinge, Vernor. "The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era." San Diego State University. 1993. Web. 16 Aug. 2008. <http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/vinge/misc/singularity.html>.

Blog in Space III: The Beatles' "Across the Universe"

© NASA/JPL

"Nothing's going to change my world..."

Beatles in Space

At 7 pm on 4 February 2008, NASA beamed the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" toward Polaris (the North Star) 431 light years away via NASA's Deep Space Network. This was done to celebrate several anniversaries that occurred in the first week of February 2008:

• 5oth anniversary of the founding of NASA
• 50th anniversary of the founding of the Beatles
• 50th anniversary of the launch of the first U.S. satellite, Explorer I
• 45th anniversary of the founding of the Deep Space Network
• 40th anniversary of the production of the first version of the Beatles "Across the Universe" by George Martin.
  

For NASA to pick "Across the Universe" to beam makes sense, from the shared anniversaries, to the title of the song itself. However, for NASA to beam the song in the first place may not make as much sense.

A Moot Question?

As mentioned in an earlier post, on one hand the question whether we should or should not send a message into space for aliens to detect may be a moot point as we've been leaking radio and TV signals into space for over 60 years now. And the amount of signals we're leaking out into space has increased. However, weakly leaking out man-made radiation isn't the same as purposely beaming out a strong focused signal into deep space.

© Lynette Cook

The chance that there is, or will be by the time the signal reaches it, a technologically advanced sentient alien race who are not only able to detect the signal and understand that it is artificially produced, but who also just happen to be listening with their electronic ears pointed toward our region of space at the right moment to pick up our one "Across the Universe" transmission is rather minute.

Possibly decreasing the chances even further is the nature of Polaris. It is a Cepheid variable star in a triple-star system. A Cepheid variable is a star 5 - 20 times the mass of the Sun that regularly cycles between expanding and contracting in size. This may impact the stability of the habitable zone for the star system.

Finally, the chance of an alien space probe (not necessarily from Polaris) happening across our transmission beam, or for another sentient race around a star beyond Polaris detecting the beam is also rather minute (even astronomically minute).

The Problem of Blasting Music toward Your Neighbors 

So what's the problem with introducing the Beatles to the Polarians, and whoever else may hear it after them?

We do not know the nature of the Polarians, or of any alien that may intercept our message. We do not know how they will react to it. Too often on Earth, when a technologically advanced civilization meets (or "discovers") a less advanced civilization, it usually ends up disastrously for the less advanced one. This does not mean that the aliens would behave the same way, but it does point to the distinct possibility that they could. If we can, others can - I seriously doubt that there is a universal natural law that only one arrogantly aggressive sentient race can exist in a galaxy.

The aliens may be xenophobic because they were invaded once themselves by an alien race, and their leader(s) decide that it is better to do preemptive strikes. Or maybe their world leader is a megalomaniac who isn't satisfied with ruling just one planet. Is it impossible for someone to want to try to rule the galaxy, even if that is a deluded desire? Or the aliens may have a religious reason to attack, one that we can not fathom. The aliens may misinterpret our message as one of aggression or of grave insult to their faith, leader, or way of life.

Or they may want to come and "help us" - parent us. They may feel it is their inherent right to do so. Some imperialistic nations in Earth's history had that philosophy - they conquered other nations to help them. They may see us as uneducated, lost heathens who need to be shown the light, and they know, from experience with other planets or their own history, that heathens won't listen unless you use "tough love" on them.

Technological advances do not always come with the appropriate advances in culture or society. A technologically advanced alien race does not have to be morally advanced as well (though one sentient species morality may not be the same as another's).

Yes, there is also the chance that the aliens that happen to hear our transmission will respect our sovereignty in all aspects of our world. They may be merely knowledge seekers, explorers, curious to learn more about us, and nothing more.

Or the aliens may even be rather indifferent to us, like the aliens in Dan Abnett's short story "Point of Contact" (found in The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two, edited by George Mann).

We just do not know. Is it worth the risk to announce ourselves?

Ah, but, you may say, at 431 light years away are we not safe?

Vast Distances, Like Fences, Good Neighbors Make?

It would be if the speed of light is the fastest any one can travel, and the aliens are short lived as we are and are adversed to multi-generational space journeys. Recent research over the last 15 years shows that "warp drives" may be possible one day after all. A more technologically advanced civilization than ours may have figured out warp drives.

© Animation Factory

Such an advance in spaceflight technology could make moot another related barrier - long interstellar distances can, with sub light spaceships, take many generations to traverse. This, of course, assumes that an alien race has short life spans like ours. With great medical advances, and their own different biology that may allow longer life spans to begin with, it is not inconceivable that an alien race could live long enough to make the trip to Earth and back in one generation or less. Of course they would have to be able to deal with being cooped up in the small (compared to the open air or water of their home planet) spaceship, as well as be able to produce enough sustenance and breathable atmosphere. But again, faster than light travel would take care of most of those problems.

Another barrier to traveling interstellar distances is the danger of cosmic radiation. It is difficult to shield from it. Our atmosphere is thick enough (60 miles) to protect us, but out in space, travelers just have the skin of their spacecraft. Though researchers are looking into creating magnetic bubbles around spacecraft to protect the humans within it from cosmic radiation. So that is probably not a problem for a more technologically advanced space faring civilization.

They, Robot

However, even if an alien race is too far away to send some of their own out to travel to Earth, they could send robots in their place. Sending robots solves many problems - no need to grow food, maintain a breathable atmosphere, or worry about the trip taking generations. Robots would also be able to explore a greater variety of planets as they would be able to tolerate a far wider range of physical environments as well as be essentially immune to any alien virus or bacteria. They could even be more resistant to attack from many biological creatures. This is one reason why some ufologists believe that the aliens known as "Grays" are actually advanced robots.

The robots would need to have sufficiently sophisticated AI (Artificial Intelligence) though, so that they can operate mostly on their own due to a 862 year round trip for any communications - unless the aliens are able to develop something akin to subspace communications like in Star Trek (would such robots be sentient?). Of course, if their mission is simple, like "observe from a distance, take notes and report" or "destroy all humans," there wouldn't be a great need for two way communication. Just sending reports updating on their progress (either to the home planet, or to a second wave of robots coming after them so that they can adjust their game plan if need be before arriving at Earth).

"Nothing's going to change my world..."

Outro

The irony of it is, the song could change our entire world by its being beamed into space by a radio telescope. Yes, I know that what John Lennon means is that when you achieve a pristine state of consciousness, you are in a mental and spiritual state where you are free of worldly distractions: "Nothing's going to change my world..." However, if, and it is a big if, the song does get the attention of aliens, most of us will find our worlds changing as most of us haven't reached the mental and spiritual state sung about in the song.

What do you think about this?



Some additional information about the Polaris star system

© NASA

Like most triple star systems, the Polaris system contains a close binary with a more distant star circling the binary.

In the Polaris system, the central binary pair is made up of Polaris A, the giant Cepheid (somewhere between 4.3 to 5.4 times the mass of the Sun), and Polaris Ab, a dwarf star (1.4 solar mass).

Polaris A is the brightest Cepheid as seen from Earth. Polaris Ab circles Polaris A in a highly eccentric orbit, with the distance between it and Polaris A varying from 27 AU to 6.7 AU, taking over 29 years to orbit Polaris A (about the time it takes Saturn to orbit the Sun).

Comparing those distances to our solar system, Pluto's closest approach to the Sun is 29.7 AU, and Jupiter's furthest distance from the Sun is 5.5 AU. By the way, recall that while Pluto is further away than Neptune, on average, it has a much more eccentric orbit than Neptune and thus actually can be closer to the Sun than Neptune.

The third companion, Polaris B, is a main sequence Sun-like star (1.1 to 1.25 solar masses) which orbits some 2400 AUs from the center binary pair, or 60.8 times the distance from our Sun to Pluto (at its furthest point in its orbit). It takes Polaris B 29,000 years to orbit Polaris A.



References:

"About the Deep Space Network." Deep Space Network Home Page. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 20 Mar. 2008. Web. 11 Aug. 2008. <http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/>.

Borland, John. "Physicists Do the Math on Warp Drive Science." Wired Science. Wired News. 14 Dec. 2007. Web. 11 Aug. 2008. <http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/12/physicists-do-t.html>.

"Cepheid Variables - Introduction." Imagine The Universe! NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Web. 11 Aug. 2008. <http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/mysteries_l1/cepheid.html>.

Kaler, Jim. "Polaris." Stars. University of Illinois. Web. 11 Aug. 2008. <http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/polaris.html>.

Knight, Will. "Repelling cosmic rays with magnetic bubbles." New Scientist.com news service. 19 Nov. 2004. Web. 11 Aug. 2008. <http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6694>.

"NASA Beams Beatles' 'Across the Universe' Into Space." NASA. 5 Feb. 2008. Web. 11 Aug. 2008. <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/across_universe.html>.

Nave, Carl R. "Solar System Data." HyperPhysics. Georgia State University. 2006. Web. 11 Aug. 2008. <http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/solar/soldata2.html>.

Tytell, David. "Probing Polaris." News from Sky and Telescope. Sky and Telescope. 10 Jan. 2006. Web. 11 Aug. 2008. <http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/3311001.html>.

"Warp Drive, When?" NASA. 17 Mar. 2006. Web 11 Aug. 2008. <http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/research/warp/warp.html>.

Blog in Space IIb: Receiving difficulties addendum - the Wow! Signal

© The Big Ear Observatory

Before I move on to Blog in Space III: Across the Universe, I want to briefly touch upon the Wow! Signal. The Wow! Signal is the most famous signal in the history of the SETI program - a still unexplained signal that appears to be a non-terrestrial (non Earth) artificial signal received for 72 seconds on 15 August 1977.

However, it was a one time event - no radio telescope has ever been able to pick up the signal again. Some feel that indicates it is not a signal from an alien sentient race after all.

But why can't an alien signal sometimes be a one time transmission?

There is one good terrestrial example I will discuss in the upcoming Blog in Space III post: the one time transmission of the Beatles song "Across the Universe" into space. This transmission was aimed at Polaris - it was not a omni directional transmission, nor was it a continuous transmission. Any listener on Polaris over 43o years from now will have a small window of opportunity to catch the signal. If the Polarians tried to pick up the signal again, they'll be out of luck, scratching their heads, or whatever it is Polarians scratch when they are puzzled - if they scratch when puzzle, as they debate the signal's nature.

The Wow! Signal could be a one time signal sent out by a sentient race, their "hello, we are here" signal. Why don't they keep sending out their hello? Why didn't we keep sending "Across the Universe"? Their own SETI program could be nascent like ours, with their radio telescopes mostly tied up with other scientific research, not leaving much time for broadcasting signals into deep space.

The Wow! Signal could also be an errant communication transmission to a moving target - say, oh, I don't know, an interplanetary or interstellar space ship or deep space probe. Such communication transmissions would most likely not be a continuous stream. They could be repeated at regular intervals, but since we don't know what the intervals are, and since we do not have radio telescopes constantly trained on the Wow! Locale (the area of the sky the Wow! Signal came from), it would be a great stroke of luck to hear another signal from the Wow! Locale on one of the short sporadic times we are listening for it.

The Wow! Signal could be a transmission from aliens to one of their deep space probes - a signal that is sent out very infrequently, only when needed for course corrections, turning on or off a science instrument or experiment, or to transmit program updates to fix a problem the probe developed.

Another thing to consider is if this was an alien transmission that was not aimed at us but at a moving space craft or space probe, the likelihood that the space craft or probe is on a direct line between the aliens and our solar system is rather minute. Most likely the space craft or probe is moving at an angle to us, especially for a craft or probe within their own system. The probe may flyby other planets to get a gravity assist to help boost its velocity, or the probe may flyby other planets as part of its long term mission. The chances for the alien's probe to happen to line up between the aliens and Earth right when they are transmitting a signal to the probe (or, conversely, for the alien's planet to line up between the Earth and the probe which is transmitting a signal to the alien's planet) are minute at best.

But wait, there's more! Another complication is that our planet is circling our sun which is itself moving through space while the alien's planet is circling a star which is also moving through space. Think about a probe circling Mars. As Mars travels in its orbit, and we in ours, the angle of the transmission beam between the Earth and Mars changes, due to the fact that each planet's orbit is different in size and each planet travels at a different speed around the Sun. Sometimes the Earth and Mars are on the same side of the Sun, and other times on opposite sides of the Sun. Because of this, the background stars change as well.

And even if the alien's space craft or probe was sent toward our Sun, because of their planet's orbit, the transmission signals sent to the craft would be sent from varying angles. This would be, of course, most pronounced early in the craft's journey to our Sun as the angular distance would be the greatest. Only occasionally would the alien planet, their space craft, and the Earth line up. As the craft nears the Sun, the angular distance would decrease (compare how the distance between the rails of a train track appear close up to the distance between the rails appear at the horizon). In that case, we would actually be in some luck (unless the craft is an invading alien army) - as the craft gets closer, our chances of relocating their transmission signals increases.

Don't count the Wow! Signal out as an alien signal just because we detected it only once.

References:

Alexander, Amir. "The "Wow!" Signal Still Eludes Detection." Planetary News: SETI. 17 January, 2001. Web. 10 August 2008. <http://www.planetary.org/news/2001/0117_The_Wow_Signal_Still_Eludes.html>.

"A Gravity Assist Primer." Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Web. 10 August 2008. <http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/grav/primer.html>.

Kawa, Barry. "The Wow! Signal." Big Ear Radio Observatory. 6 September 2006. Web. 10 August 2008. <http://www.bigear.org/wow.htm>. Reprinted from the Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine section, 18 September 1994.

Blog in Space II: Receiving difficulties

© Animation Factory

The question of whether we should be announcing ourselves to the Universe may be a moot point to an extent. We've been leaking man-made electromagnetic radiation for quite some time now. So the "cat's out of the bag," any way, right?

Well, not so fast.

Every planet have a vast night sky in which to search for signals. The further away they are from our solar system, the harder it will be for them to pick up a signal; not only will most have to have their finely tuned directional electronic ears pointed right at us, but their equipment will need to be able to receive the frequencies that we are radiating out into space with as well as be free from possible local interference. It is possible the aliens could dismiss, at first, our signals as noise.

The aliens will only have a small window to detect the signal as their planet rotates on its axis (unless they have space based radio telescopes). Interstellar dust could attenuate some, or all, of the signals. And finally, if they pointed their radio telescope to the Earth a couple of hundred years ago they would've not heard anything and may take some time to come back and listen again; or they may discover artificial (unnatural) signals from one or more other star systems and that may be enough to preoccupy them, delaying them from continuing their search, or from their going over previous searched sections of the sky. So even if the cat is out of the bag, we may have time to put it back in.

So, we need an alien race close enough to pick up the signals we've been leaking, with the technology to pick up the signals and to recognize them as non-local artificial signals, and the will to take the time to dedicate equipment for meticulous searches of the vast sky looking for alien signals.

Even if they did find our signals, they would have to then figure out what they are. Radio and television signals are not simple signals - they are signals which are modulated onto carrier signals. They will need a receiver that is capable of distinguishing signals from each other, able to remove the carrier to retrieve the information being sent, and then process it so that it can be used by a speaker, or TV screen. However, the original signals are meant for human ears and eyes, not an aliens', which could further complicate their ability to receive, and perceive, the signals.

If they are able to figure out the signals, and are able to get the information out in audible and/or visual form by adapting it to their own hearing and/or visual range, they would still need to interpret what they are seeing. Being that our culture and theirs will be very alien to each other, it may be profoundly difficult for them to make sense of what they hear or see. They may not perceive music as we do. They may not even be able to hear, communicating instead through scents (like ants), or touch, or light. How would such aliens make sense out of a audio broadcast? Will they have a sense of humor or be able to understand ours? Will they mistaken a TV show as a historical document (like the Thermians in Galaxy Quest)? Will they be offended by what they see either because of cultural differences or because of misinterpretation. It's hard to interpret a truly foreign language, especially the context, thousands of light-years away.

(I have to pause for another humorous aside, this one from Futurama - will they become addicted like Lrrr, the ruler of Omicron Persei 8, to a 1,000 year old TV series and demand the last episode be shown or the Earth is destroyed?)

But it may be enough that they detect the signal, and realize it is artificial - they would be able to figure out where they came from. If the speed of light is the ultimate speed limit, and there are no "tricks" to get around it (warp engines, worm holes), there's not much to worry about - physically (theologically and psychologically we may have something to worry about, as mentioned in earlier posts on alien contact).

Anyway, while the amount of signals we're leaking out into space has increased (cellphones, space probes, GPS, for example), weakly leaking out man-made radiation isn't the same as beaming out a strong focused signal on purpose for aliens to... oh, wait, we've done that. Ooops. it looks like we not only let that cat out, but we sent it running, meowing all the way.

More on that in the next post.

Reference:

"Character bios: Lrrr." Can't get enough Futurama. 6 August 2008. <www.gotfuturama.com/Information/CharacterBios/lrrr.dhtml>.

"Galaxy Quest (1999)." Internet Movie Database. 6 August 2008. <www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/>

Blog In Space I: Introduction

© Animation Factory

There is a blog, "Blog In Space" (by PayPerPost.com), which will beam your blog into space because, according to their unsupported (at least as far as I know!) claim, "Aliens Love Blogs Too!"

If aliens did get your blog, they would have to know how to figure how to translate correctly the electronic signal so that they can see and hear your text, images, sound files, and/or video in the proper format (do aliens have the same HTML, CSS, and image standards?). Then they would need to understand your language (including the nuances only known by understanding the cultural context of the language).

But maybe they don't need to understand anything beyond the fact that some fool sentient species is purposely broadcasting their presence into outer space. Someone - or something - may indeed hear you. But it may not a welcomed guest...

More tomorrow.

Alternate/Parallel Universes in the Multiverse

© DigitalBlasphemy.com

One of the hot topics in astrophysics is the idea of multiple universes - that our universe is just one bubble in a collection of other universe bubbles, all making up the multiverse or the meta-universe (some multiverse hypotheses discuss multiple universes as membranes/sheets, others as discs). While the main focus of this blog is the speculation of alien realities that may (or may not) exist in our universe, no discussion of alien realities would be complete without visiting the subject of alternate or parallel universes.

But before we venture too far into alternative/parallel universe conjectures, I would first like to examine the intersection of the subject of parallel universes with that of alien contact. While the idea of alien contact is plausible in our universe, it may be rather implausible between two universes.

Some hypotheses, like the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI), or quantum multiverse, state that different universes arise "merely" from the random fluctuations that happen on a quantum level. Chance and true randomness exists, and creates multiple universes. Einstein did not much like the idea, did not like what the math, what the theories were suggesting. He could not believe that God plays with dice.

In a random event, there are more than one possible result. In the MWI, for each random event, each possible result occurs: one occurs in our universe, and the others occur in newly created parallel universes. Thus, those universes have the same physical laws as our universe, just with some small change in a quantum level random event. If aliens were somehow able to travel from one of those parallel universes, they would enter a space time continuum that would function the same as it did in their home universe. Though MWI states that no communication between the universes would be possible, thus no travel, Although there could be quantum interferences between them, though I doubt much could be communicated that way.

Other hypotheses predict changes in physical laws for each universe. This would have major consequences for any alien explorer from another universe. If parallel universe A's gravitational constant, for instance, is stronger than universe B's, then everything in universe A would come to existence, work toward equilibriums, and evolve within this stronger gravity. And since gravity is part of the space-time continuum, the very fabric of space, if aliens from universe A somehow finds a way to physically pop into universe B, they would find themselves in a new space-time continuum - one with weaker gravity. Their bodies, their evolution, their spacecraft and the materials within it were all grew, lived, and evolved in and/or was designed for stronger gravity.

This would affect them at both the atomic level and the macro level. It would affect every particle of their beings, and every particle of their ships. Some very small changes to physical laws could have very large changes for the physical structures (both living and inorganic). It would be very dangerous, even lethal, to pop into a parallel universe without checking the conditions; the aliens would need to send over a M.A.L.P. (Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe - yes, I'm a Stargate fan, though I doubt that would surprise anyone). Though it raises the question that even if they were able to send over something like a M.A.L.P. first, could they truly trust the readings they get back since they are using sensors that would be affected in unknown ways by the unknown differences between the universe being investigated and the home universe?

It would be best to find a means of communicating without actually physically setting foot in another universe. One possible way of communicating may actually be via gravity - some hypothesize that gravity may leak out of universes and or otherwise be felt by other universes. If so, that may be the most logical way to carry on a inter-universal communication. Wouldn't that be wild - to communicate with a sentient species in another universe?

Maybe the safest way too - if it turns out the other sentient race are war mongering conquerors, we would have little to worry about (as long as each universe is incompatible to life from the other); though I wonder, could they eventually figure out how to use a gravity wave weapon, but what would it profit them to do so? Of course we've seen on our own planet some people just can not tolerate anyone different from themselves, and that is reason enough for them to murder.

This topic will, of course, be discussed in more detail future posts.

Abductions

© DigitalBlasphemy.com

The History Channel last night (23 July 2008) had a program titled "New UFO Revelations: The Gray's Agenda." One speculation was that the aliens where here to produce alien-human hybrids.

Now why would aliens traverse interstellar distances to produce a hybrid with us? For fun and profit? Boredom? Because they can? On a dare?

One possible reason mentioned by some is maybe they need us to save their own species - they can no longer reproduce for some reason. Let's ponder on that for a moment.

The aliens would need DNA, and DNA that was similar enough to human DNA to make a hybrid possible. And they would need to overcome the problem that most Earth mammal hybrids have - infertility (think mule). That would be counter-productive. And if they were able to overcome the problem (making the alien-human "mule" consistently fertile) then why couldn't they overcome the problem of their own infertility to begin with?

How would a hybrid save their species? The hybrid would be a new species. So why bother at all? If it is perpetuate their culture, I'm sure there would be people on Earth who would volunteer to travel to their planet to live. Ah, but those volunteers would bring their own culture embedded with them. The aliens would need some one who is essentially a blank slate - a new born. However, every species has sets of instincts, and maybe pure human instincts would not mesh well with the alien planet and culture. Thus, the need for a hybrid.

Also, the chance that the alien planet would be a close enough match to Earth for an Earth baby to thrive in are low, especially for the small Grays (the ones that are said to be between 3 to 4 foot tall). The Earth baby would find itself in a societal environment long designed for small creatures. The gravity of the planet may be much greater (a possible reason why the small Grays are small to begin with), too great for a normal human to thrive (or even survive) in for any length of time. Thus, another need for a hybrid.

But if the aliens have the technology to traverse the stars and the knowledge, technique, and technology to create hybrids, that they would have trouble solving their own infertility seems odd. Or at the very least injecting a few select specific human genes into their own genome which would only require sampling some genetic material (a mouth swab would do).

There is, however, another reason for an alien-human hybrid, if such things exist, that I think needs to be considered. Lengthy exploration of a planet that is even moderately hostile environmentally would be difficult for the aliens. If the Earth's atmospheric pressure and gravity is very low compared to theirs, has more radiation reaching the surface, the Sun's spectral class different, the temperature much cooler/warmer it could be difficult for an alien to stay long on the Earth's surface without artificial/supplementary medical/biological aids to help them. Plus, there is the concern about viruses and bacteria - some think that an alien wouldn't be susceptible to our bugs since our bugs are adapted to try to get through our immune systems and thus an alien's immune system would have no trouble recognizing Earth bugs as foreign bodies and attack. Nice assumption, but their immune system evolved on their planet and may miss an Earth bug (maybe see it as inert). Anyway, a hybrid, one brought up in the alien's culture, with alien instincts as well as human protective instincts (like our instinctive fear of a snake's hiss), might make the best alien scientists to explore and research Earth. They would have additional protection against Earth's "bugs," some native instinctive reaction to give them further protection, and can better survive and interact in Earth's environmental conditions.

© Animation Factory

By the way, for those who are wondering what a Gray (or Grey) is, it is one of several species of aliens reported by people. According to Jerome Clark in his 1998 book The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, Grays are most commonly reported in the U.S. (75% of all alien sightings) with Europe and England reporting Grys 20% and 12% of the time, respectively.

Black Holes and Aliens

© DigitalBlasphemy.com

I was watching The Ark of Truth (surprise, surprise, I'm a Stargate SG-1 fan), and contemplating the super-gate that is powered by a black hole that the Ori use to travel from their galaxy to ours and while traveling such a distance by an artificially produced wormhole may be something that is highly improbable, it did get me to thinking about the power of black holes and that maybe, just maybe, that is one place to go looking for aliens.

Let me explain. I am not saying black holes can be a natural habitat for some alien species. But black holes do give off immense energy. Not all matter that falls into a black hole is swallowed up, never to be seen again. No, a fair amount of it is given off by the matter as it is ripped apart before it gets to the event horizon (from which there is no return). Much of it streams out in a spiral along an axis.

Such unimaginable power sources just beg to be used / tapped into. OK, at least by species with similar outlook on power as humans. Some types of research may require incredible energies - our particle accelerators are but one example of this. Some explorations of our universe can only happen at high energies. And if some methods of interstellar travel, methods deemed impossible by us at the moment, like artificial wormholes, can only happen with great infusion of power, then black holes may be highly sought after. So maybe that's one place some aliens will not be able to resist, and so one place we may find them.

Of course, the aliens need to live somewhat nearby a black hole - close enough that even a very long journey is worth the effort and sacrifice (may be one way trips at first) to first get near one, study it, learn how to use it, and then invent and construct whatever device is needed to extract/capture the energy given off by in-falling matter. And what if other aliens have the same idea?

OK, so not very probable. But that's one of the fun things about speculation - don't need to stay only in the very probable.

Where's the Kaboom? - Updated

© Warner Bros. Inc.

Has a month passed already? I have a stack of science magazines, and a virtual stack of science e-newsletters to wade through. But more importantly, I have a stack of papers to grade. The other stacks will have to wait. All the best laid plans of mice and men...

Lately, the one question on my mind related to Alien Realities is "should we actively try to make contact with other planetary civilizations?" IF distances between solar systems are such that viable physical travel between them is virtually impossible, then there is little physical danger and thus, little reason to fear contact. Psychological, sociological, theological, and cultural dangers are another topic - we don't need physical contact to still be affected. Many scientists so far say interstellar travel is highly impractical: the energy costs are enormous (maybe close to infinite) and the time needed generational. Also, the speed of light does seem to be ultimate speed barrier, and there are no workarounds that seem viable. For instance, many feel that wormholes are not a viable workaround, despite what one my favorite Sci-Fi series uses for their main means of interstellar travel - as they would require far too much energy, and can not be controlled. But just because we can't see any viable "workaround" at present doesn't mean there are not any.

There are other assumptions at work here as well: what may be a generational travel for us (would take many generations of people to get there) may not necessarily be a generational trip for an extremely long lived alien species. They may not mind the long separation from loved ones (if they even feel such emotions, or have such emotional equivalents).

Also, in such a large universe, could there not be a species that is so xenophobic for whatever reasons (even reasons that may not make sense to us) that they are willing to send out a barrage of weapons toward our planet at the first sign of our existence? The weapons may take hundreds or thousands of years to reach us, but that doesn't make it impossible for a alien society from launching them. On the other hand, if they are that xenophobic, launching an attack would broadcast their presence, and they would need to ensure that their weapons could 1) approach completely undetected and 2) completely destroy their target - otherwise a retaliatory response could be mounted against them. Though as we see too often with our own species, intelligence and wisdom do not always go hand in hand - there is no reason to assume alien species would always have increased wisdom with increased intelligence or increased knowledge.

I think we have to be very careful. The old Bugs Bunny cartoon where Marvin the Martian cavalierly wants to destroy the Earth because it gets in the way of his view of Venus could have a kernel of chilling truth to it.

"Where's the Kaboom? There's supposed to be an Earth-shattering Kaboom?" - Marvin the Martian.

On such an uplifting note I will leave for now, but shall return to this topic from time to time.