The Arecibo Message And METI | Answers With Joe

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In 1974, a group of scientists sent a radio signal trying to contact intelligent aliens. Here's what they said.
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www.nytimes.com/2017/06/28/ma...
Vsauce:
• Messages For The Future
Sci Show:
• 3 Messages We've Sent ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo...
The Arecibo Message was arranged as part of a grand re-opening ceremony at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in 1974. The binary radio signal included information about DNA, the building blocks of life, and where we come from.
It was constructed by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake, who had also created the Pioneer Plaque for the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions, and the Voyager golden record. Both of which were attempts to communicate with an alien species.
The signal was sent to the star cluster M13, which is not expected to be a hotbed for life, but was the best option at the time that the telescope sent the signal. It would take 50,000 years for a species on M13 to reply to the message.
For that reason it's really considered more of a message in a bottle.
METI, or Messaging Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, is a movement that advocates sending messages out to potential aliens, but there are a lot of detractors who think that we may be opening ourselves up to danger from hostile civilizations.

[@kcw1963]

I believe it was a sci-fi short story where, when we finally got a message back and decoded it, it read: "be quiet. they will hear you."

[@kaiying74]

I want to read this. Can you remember what it was called?

[@kcw1963]

Jamie McEwan here it is. Shortened I think. Couldn’t find it anywhere else: Radio Silence 36,400,000. That is the expected number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy, according to Drake’s famous equation. For the last 78 years, we had been broadcasting everything about us - our radio, our television, our history, our greatest discoveries - to the rest of the galaxy. We had been shouting our existence at the top of our lungs to the rest of the universe, wondering if we were alone. 36 million civilizations, yet in almost a century of listening, we hadn’t heard a thing. We were alone. That was, until about 5 minutes ago. The transmission came on every transcendental multiple of hydrogen’s frequency that were listening to. Transcendental harmonics - things like hydrogen’s frequency times pi - don’t appear in nature, so I knew it had to be artificial. The signal pulsed on and off very quickly with incredibly uniform amplitudes; my initial reaction was that this was some sort of binary transmission. I measured 1679 pulses in the one minute that the transmission was active. After that, the silence resumed. The numbers didn’t make any sense at first. They just seemed to be a random jumble of noise. But the pulses were so perfectly uniform, and on a frequency that was always so silent; they had to come from an artificial source. I looked over the transmission again, and my heart skipped a beat. 1679 - that was the exact length of the Arecibo message sent out 40 years ago. I excitedly started arranging the bits in the original 73x23 rectangle. I didn’t get more than halfway through before my hopes were confirmed. This was the exact same message. The numbers in binary, from 1 to 10. The atomic numbers of the elements that make up life. The formulas for our DNA nucleotides. Someone had been listening to us, and wanted us to know they were there. Then it came to me - this original message was transmitted only 40 years ago. This means that life must be at most 20 lightyears away. A civilization within talking distance? This would revolutionize every field I have ever worked in - astrophysics, astrobiology, astro- The signal is beeping again. This time, it is slow. Deliberate, even. It lasts just under 5 minutes, with a new bit coming in once per second. Though the computers are of course recording it, I start writing them down. 0. 1. 0. 1. 0. 1. 0. 0... I knew immediately this wasn’t the same message as before. My mind races through the possibilities of what this could be. The transmission ends, having transmitted 248 bits. Surely this is too small for a meaningful message. What great message to another civilization can you possibly send with only 248 bits of information? On a computer, the only files that small would be limited to… Text. Was it possible? Were they really sending a message to us in our own language? Come to think of it, it’s not that out of the question - we had been transmitting pretty much every language on earth for the last 70 years… I begin to decipher with the first encoding scheme I could think of - ASCII. 0. 1. 0. 1. 0. 1. 0. 0. That’s B... 0. 1. 1 0. 0. 1. 0. 1. E… As I finish piecing together the message, my stomach sinks like an anchor. The words before me answer everything. “BE QUIET OR THEY WILL HEAR YOU”

[@lollertoaster]

@@kcw1963 apparently aliens conform to the recommendations from American Standard Association. Nice

[@DataJYdocs]

(video beginning argument) - Sadly, the base argument is wrong (ill-founded): nobody from outer space (outer foreigners) ever came down on planet Earth and sliced anybody (nor commited anything bad). Some can even argue 'they rather brought life'.

[@TheAllMightyGodofCod]

@@DataJYdocs aren't you fed up with all this racism towards alien species and Hollywood always portraying them as bad guys and inferior to our own so called heroes? And what about humans playing out alien roles in movies? Discussing.

[@cenedra2143]

Just had a picture in my head of a little green man writing 'wow' on a piece of paper

[@matbat2909]

there are a lot of likes missing on this comment

[@Neesi392]

Lool

[@paddymills]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGaXYZ1teaiFapY

[@meeshkingaming2473]

I would like to think it's like that guy that goes "wow" then winks

[@paulpaulsen7777]

There will be a time, where calling someone „green“ will be considered racism 🐸💚🦠🔫🔋🧩🪀

[@resukanere1620]

My favorite answer to the fermi paradox: maybe aliens just got cable

[@BabyMakR]

What if they live on a heavy planet? Launching communications satellites into orbit would be too difficult so they'd just run fibre cables everywhere.

[@freedomforaging]

So yeah, they probably created their own digital universes

[@paulpaulsen7777]

@@BabyMakR If they are living on a heavy planet, life will be small and flat and having big brains would consume too much energy in carrying it, so I guess, heavy planets do not form intelligent life.

[@stunter_pt7506]

@@paulpaulsen7777 what is intelligent life?? In your opinion

[@ChiyoBebe.]

@@stunter_pt7506 self aware life that think abstract maybe

[@Cepheid_]

Imagine getting your species killed because you sent a Doritos ad.

[@slowmotionjoe6263]

sounds extreme

[@epiclepticseizuresswag971]

we would have deserved it

[@ptonpc]

Seems like a reasonable response.

[@joshuajoseph8805]

Ha.

[@jonathanabsher4321]

yes that would be like the darkest of dark comedy

[@JRLarsen]

>10,000 years later >We learn to travel at unimaginable speeds >Inhabit a foreign planet >Receive the Doritos ad >WTF are Doritos >What planet is that primitive ape from

[@jmartinez4640]

Sad News Joe, Arecibo Observatory Collapsed today Dec. 1, 2020.

[@Albrecht8000]

@ J Martinez: Yes, you´re right, it is very bad! :-( Greetings from germany

[@BobGreeneCreates]

“This is clearly an organized image, made from a clearly intelligent life form. Named Carl Sagan.” Lol, brilliant!

[@jgr7487]

"so which of our well thought messages did you guys pick 1st?" "the Doritos ad! that sh!t was amazing!!!"

[@dancobb118]

"Maybe they just got cable".... Funniest line in this video. Yo Joe.

[@bigpianoguy]

"SAVE YOURSELVES. AVOID THE PLANET EARTH AT ALL COST."

[@adamberk2597]

Request: Please do a video on the "space gene" or how astronaut Scott Kelly's DNA was altered by his time in space.

[@clintdeweber5292]

He may not be known as a great science communicator but I've always found Edward Witten to be a very influential theoretical physicist and arguably the greatest mathematician alive today.

[@QueezTheDefiantScientist]

Yea not like that he's literally the greatest physicist of the modern day or anything, oh sh!t I'm half a decade late

[@skirwan78]

I think it was Clark whos aid "There are two equally terrifying possibilities- either we're completely alone in the universe... or we aren't"

[@sentinelmoonfang]

Is anyone else unreasonably annoyed that the Millennium Falcon on his shirt doesn't have its cockpit? Now you can't unsee it either.

[@michaeljames5936]

Isn't it just a silhouette? If I am wrong, then I know it will give you great pleasure to correct me..so knock yourself out...

[@patrick_on_here9914]

Michael james I’m not the OP, but the silhouette of the millennium falcon from the top down would show its cockpit sticking out on the right hand side

[@eamonia]

Copyright infringement.

[@454jamie545]

At least you’re self aware enough to say “unreasonably” annoyed.

[@woggie001]

What if it's not the Millenium Falcon?

[@pranavdatta4731]

After a stress full day your videos are a good stress buster .. thanks Joe

[@harrowgateguy]

We got a response to the Arecibo message in the form of a crop circle in a field in England next to the largest radio telescope in England. It came 27 years after we sent our message It provided the same info about them that we provided about us. They did it in the same format as our message was sent in.

[@SMHman666]

harrowgateguy That was just a scam.

[@harrowgateguy]

@@SMHman666 if you mean because crop circles are made by people walking on boards with ropes, some are and some aren’t. The characteristics of man made ones are obvious, and the difference between the two is easily identified. If you mean specific individuals have come forward and claimed to have made this specific crop circle please let me know where I can find that information.

[@Karim-ri8bi]

Your videos are always interesting.

[@kcw1963]

A good follow up vid would be about the signals we are now getting at exact 16 day intervals.

[@REMAX_CCA]

What? What keywords should I use to research this topic?

[@drunkalfuzzyness]

I loved this video! Thanks for posting.

[@dogmahacker8278]

We'll probably never stay quite. As a species we're too eager and emotionally invested in finding someone who shares this universe with us that we'll put aside cautious logic and risk our safety to find out. It seems humanities strongest desire aside from extended life is not to be alone in this universe. We really don't want to be alone. And it's kinda weird that something we should be so sure about, we cannot get a confirmation on. Are we sharing this universe with someone else? We will never stop looking for other life like a twin looking for their long lost sibling.

[@TheGingey]

Its legitimatly kinda funny and stange thinking that as a species we behave the same as we do individually

[@donfields1234]

Quiet*

[@turtleboy6969]

Yes but doritos are worthy

[@tessamcqueen850]

My bf was just asking me how extra terrestrials would decipher a msg from Earth. I roughly know how, but not well enough to explain. Thanks for doing all the heavy lifting Joe!

[@craigcorson3036]

In case you are ever asked again, here's a detailed explanation of the Arecibo message, and how to decode it: www.physics.utah.edu/~cassiday/p1080/lec08.html

[@randomtuberhandle]

I wonder if some day we might receive a message from deep space that translates to " SHUT UP! Your interstellar blabbering is getting on our nerves! ... PLEASE SHUT UP!"

[@toadstooltarot]

The arecibo message seemed like an ill-considered 'take-out menu' to the cosmos.

[@sohamtulsyan3750]

Can't believe this legendary telescope just broke 😭

[@TheExoplanetsChannel]

*great video*

[@siryba]

A fantastic and thought provoking episode. Thanks for posting. I for one would prefer to stay quiet for a while yet as I was taught as a kid that it’s nearly always better to listen carefully to those around, in order to gather as much info as possible before speaking your mind :). Would you consider doing an episode on the South Atlantic Anomaly? This is the hole (or perhaps it’s better to say, dip in the field strength) in the Earth’s magnetic field over South America.

[@somedudeok1451]

There is no point in keeping quiet as a species, because that is literally impossible. Even if any potentially hostile aliens wouldn't pick up the radio signals that we already passively sent out there, we would at some point in our evolution start building mega structures to directly harvest the energy of the sun (or several suns) with dyson swarms or the like. And that is definately something you cannot hide at anybody who is looking at you, due to the unnatural light patterns you produce during the construction and even after completion. Any alien civilization that we might fear right now, because they are hostile and more advanced than us, would in a few thousand years be even more advanced in relation to us and there would never be a way to catch up. Eventually they WILL find us and mop the floor with us, if they so desire. Even if we become a type 2 civilization with a fully functional dyson swarm, we would probably still be no match vs a type 2,4 civilization that wants to destroy us. But why would they want to destroy us in the first place? The local galaxy cluster offers virtually unlimited free ressources and we have nothing that cannot be found in other places of the universe, other than our culture and information. And if they want access to that, they would probably be better off just asking us to share these things with them, instead of trying to obtain them by threatening us. When your civilization has advanced past the scarcity stage of evolution, not many reasons remain to be hostile towards other lifeforms. Any fears of getting invaded or blown up by aliens are irrational and this whole discussion is pretty pointless.

[@Lightzirlx]

20 questions with Joe Scott! Gogo!

[@Alfosan2010]

I liked before watching, we all know Joe's videos are always interesting. Now I want my heart.

[@QuantumBraced]

I think to have any chance of anything like this being received, it has to be broadcast out of all radio telescopes in the world in all directions non-stop basically for as long as we are around as a species.

[@user-je6xu9em8f]

You are underestimating that they could be MUCH closer already than we think. The actual scientific community cannot be trusted. If they found anything that is real dis info pay ops will be ran immediately. Like the fact that ALL crop circles are explained as hoaxes. NOT TRUE. MI5 got sued for not paying half of the money to those old Englishmen that said they made ALL the crop circles in England in a hotspot especially. Then if course they can claim copycats are the reason. They exist as hoaxes but not the intricate ones.

[@Tautolonaut]

It's a cosmic dickpic. "Look at our dna! Now show us yours..."

[@portalina]

There was an answer to that message that went out. Its very compelling. Whether or not it legit, it deserves a video!

[@banjojo3341]

Cixin Liu answered this question with his 3 Body Problem trilogy. Amazing reading

[@HurricaneSA]

Life in the universe has to start somewhere. Perhaps we are simply that start.

[@craigcorson3036]

That's an often overlooked possibility. An unlikely one, but still, possible.

[@nixl3518]

that's so infinitesimally low in probability, u could easily assume it was not here!! Remember there were dinosaurs 65 million years ago that got wiped out. If they hadn't, one of them could have evolved and developed space travel like us but a long long time ago and would have been traveling the universe in Teslas, while we would still be monkeys on trees!

[@AdakStillStands]

Possibility! We are the universes ancient ones who still play with toy rockets powered by explosives.

[@dexmeetsdexter]

This dude didn’t even show the Arecibo message was sent back to us with the a civilization completely different from us with their dna and planetary system on the message

[@sterhax]

Hey Joe, lovely video!

[@HELLBENDER_Band]

The idea of other life forms in the universe remaining radio silent for fear of being discovered and eventually eliminated by other life forms is called the dark forest theory. It was first mentioned by Liu Cixin in his novel The Dark Forest which is a part of his trilogy of novels known as Remembrance of Earth's Past. I cant believe this theory was not mentioned, referenced, or credited at all in this video.

[@higgledypiggledycubledy8899]

Have you read the Dark Forest Trilogy? It's pretty mindblowing

[@stevetreloar6602]

And insanely badly translated into English. I plowed through it and the concept was nice but, in whole, it was awful.

[@prawnmikus]

We've been transmitting the 'life' signal for over 2 billion years. Light from our star, passing though the Earth's atmosphere, then on to an alien detector, would carry the signals of an atmosphere rich in oxygen and other traces of organic processes. That would make Earth stand out from other planets in our solar system (at least). Hopefully we can start doing this kind of detection pretty soon.

[@paulpaulsen7777]

We are already scanning atmospheres from exoplanets passing through their central sun‘s light

[@asmitajoshi5523]

hey Joe, also, can you please make a video on white holes and hawking radiation? And keep up your great videos

[@BrianDaleNeeley]

If anyone remembers the "Night Tracks" TV program from the 80s, I saw a grainy broadcast of that program some time in the mid 2000s. I picked it up off an actual television antenna, and it didn't seem to be a rebroadcast, or some sort of rerun. I suppose that is possible, but I think it unlikely. The commercials were clearly 80s style, and it would have to have been bounced from somewhere a light-decade away.

[@disciple6368]

if any thing happens you be ready with yours Thor's Hammer😂

[@TheWraithkrown]

I think we are going to have to solve our own problems. Looking at human history, it rarely goes well for a less technologically advanced civilization when it meets a more technologically advanced civilization. I think that we should try not to expose our ignorance at least until we have some way to defend ourselves.

[@troyhenry6111]

TheWraithkrown that would be true for civilizations that resources are an issue. Any space dwelling species wouldn't have an issue with resources.

[@spacepopeXIV]

Troy Henry Oooooo, that's a very unique and new way of thinking about Alien visitation, at least for me. Thanks for making more curious.

[@EagleHunter410]

Or perhaps the trait of slaughtering those we see beneath us is a human trait. Its impossible to know. Better safe then sorry though I guess. The best that could happen would visitors coming and helping us fix the planet, share technology etc. The more likely scenario would be they would learn our destructive history and would refuse to give technology to an evil race

[@timothymccaskey4362]

TheWraithkrown: Silly Earthling. You're superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons.

[@danielpas368]

It would be a crazy waste of resources for them to try and harvest anything from earth, unless you needed actual humans for some reason. So aside from fringe cases it is always beneficial to meet a more advanced alien culture that has highly advanced spaceflight, assuming they let you.

[@mafiakid2559]

I saw this in the movie "Cosmos (2019)" was a great movie as well, when the signal was received back to earth.

[@hull294]

We've already given off enough radio waves inadvertently to attract the unwanted attention of an interstellar bully so someone sending a small signal on purpose isn't going to make the blindest bit of difference.

[@zapfanzapfan]

The oxygen in our atmosphere has betrayed life's presence on this planet for 2 billion years and no one has showed up to turn the planet into a golf course yet. So, stop worrying! Btw: Happy 90th birthday to Frank Drake!

[@nixl3518]

We should stop worrying but the O2 in the air is hardly the issue. Nobody cares! But still, we have no idea what's out there so why go looking for trouble? We make assumptions, including "stop worrying" based on our understanding of our world, which is decidedly infantile.

[@jondreauxlaing]

I can't imagine there would be a predator species that would want anything from us. The universe is a big place, with a ton of uninhabited worlds with the same resources one could get from Earth. That said, I still think it's prudent to be quiet, partially because I always think it's good to keep your mouth shut and listen in the face of the unknown, but also I think we'd be embarrassed by ourselves later. Sending out signals now would be the equivalent of an angsty LiveJournal (oh no, I've dated myself). All the other civilizations will be laughing at us for millennia to come. Actually, maybe that's a solution to the Fermi Paradox, they heard us, and they want nothing to do with us. ET swiped left on Homo Sapiens.

[@Bryan-Hensley]

Jon Laing food

[@thetherorist9244]

what do we have that the rest of the universe doesn't???? LIFE......thats what they want

[@zeroxcrusher]

Maybe they just want to wipe out other life forms

[@itarry4]

It's likely they'd find us from early radio signals. Maybe they just like our music.📻👽🤖👾🔊🎤👽😜

[@JohnJohnson-mh2dc]

FOOD...idiot...

[@pointlessone3702]

The Three-Body Problem series by Liu Cixin is exactly about this.

[@Alex-bw6yd]

Right now we are just sitting in silence. Can you imagine 50-100 years from now we figure out some new form of communication and decided to search the cosmos for that form of communication and the entire galaxy is just buzzing with those signals on a daily basis?

[@gamercatsz5441]

I think our fellow humans are far more dangerous than any alien treath.

[@dpop8378]

Gamercatsz , agreed

[@thedawnoftheblackhearts2745]

Homo homini lupus

[@blueridgeocean]

just posted the same thing

[@paddymills]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2qVi6l3YrOga8U

[@kamharmon2463]

What is a "Treath"?

[@Therealpiratepete]

You didn’t mention the ‘crop circle’ reply to the Carl Sagan message!

[@corythecrow]

That's too bad. Glad I read this first because that's all I am here for!!

[@TKNbeatz]

@@corythecrow yup!

[@harryconsu3746]

How come that's never ever mentioned in SETI discussions?..... Any real evidence of that crop circle 'response' or is it an urban legend?

[@scrollop]

@@harryconsu3746 The Response is real. Veryt strange he doesn't go into it. Lucky The Why Files? had a whole episode on crop circles.

[@rayrichards6748]

Our communication will more than likely keep improving to the point where if we send a message in 100 yrs, it’ll be received before our WOW radio wave. So basically it’s best to listen and wait, at least we will know the format in which a reply should be formed rather than trying hundreds of different ways and languages

[@asanti3748]

That’s why Arrival with Amy Adams was a great film about another complex life form that were completely different than our own. It’s almost like trying to communicate with dolphins if they were more advanced than humans.’

[@dr.zoidberg8666]

I remember hearing about the LHC causing extremely tiny & fleeting wormholes -- the kind that would be gone before even the smallest particle could get through. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, it seems very promising to me for the future of civilization. I don't think that we'll have Star Gate style wormholes any time soon, or maybe ever -- but if we could figure out a way to make a wormhole large enough & keep it open for long enough that a single photon could get through, then we would have a faster than light communication system. If that kind of thing is physically possible to achieve, then of course we would never see any alien signals flying through space. Why send your message through space when you can get it anywhere pretty much instantaneously regardless of distance?

[@Engineeringuncovered]

I don’t know where you heard that, but I doubt it was real. If wormholes were actually real and possible, it would prove string theory and we would know reality.

[@thatpersonineverycommentse2195]

I think you mean black holes

[@nixl3518]

You really need to separate fiction from fact! What you see on TV is fantasy. You need a foundation in math to deal with the idea of wormholes which are only fiction at the moment. Star Trek style transporters are also physically impossible even in the future unless we discover physical properties that overturn our current knowledge, which no one can presume impossible! Your "if" statement is just fantasy!

[@TheHannibalTV]

No I don't think it's a good idea.

[@megetu2942]

I think that we a a large enough threat to ourselves that it may be worth it, and also, this is the day after that Israeli space security official released that we are in contact with aliens.

[@ShamblerDK]

@@megetu2942 What? xD

[@dmichael8443]

I just imagine an alien species coming to earth in 2000 years that have built their whole civilization around Doritos and are now searching for the source.

[@MadEyeMose]

Spooky actions at a distance question. Using the voice of the narrator on History Channel's Aliens; What if quantum communications are possible? What would a quantum broadcast message look like?

[@JamesPawson]

Maybe radiowaves are seen as a threat by some aliens. I am just thinking about how navy sonar testing was messing up whales and dolphins, causing them to beach themselves.

[@thumbfan72]

I have a similar concern for a human vessel rendezvousing with an alien vessel. Once there, what radiation would we use to communicate? We have no idea what they can receive, or what will be able to kill them. Any launch of a solid object bears the risk of exposure to bacteria, and/or toxicity differences. And, if aliens are as paranoid as we are, it might just be better to communicate in a form that takes thousands of years to reach them, as a more direct encounter could prove dangerous.

[@troyhenry6111]

James Pawson radio comminication wouldnt have that issue with alien species or they would just die from natural causes. The universe is covered in radio signals constantly.

[@Blowfeld20k]

@Troy Henry Final someone with both a CLUE and an education that reached beyond grade B science fiction .... bravo sir :D

[@jorgepeterbarton]

maybe they have detected a few and just think they are cosmological objects and created a theory about radio-emitting objects, like their version of a black hole.

[@thetherorist9244]

radio waves here on earth have subdued the aliens and made them numb and non violent....fat and lazy....laying on couches and singing songs and watching comedy....lol...it seems the messages are working

[@kansascityshuffle4141]

The great barrier is just the vastness of space. Plenty of life out there probably looking at their moon or possibly even crossing planets at an extreme level. If you do make it out of your solar system where the hell would you go anyway? Let's just assume nobody can travel faster than light (reasonable) then nobody would ever see another intelligent being. Basically we are all just in isolation to a point we haven't met any of them. Some solar system may be very lucky and even get two planets they still besides themselves will never reach out of their box. The only difference is we are a single child and they have a brother.

[@anthonyhutchins2300]

I completely agree... Interstellar travel is just so ridiculously vast that it's impossible to see anybody.

[@redghost6386]

Likely two civilisations in the same solar system are too busy fighting each other after centuries of mistrust. A perpetual cold War or one civilisation has better tech and the other is treated badly. Maybe I just have an earth mindset.

[@leecowell8165]

we do not know that. we only know that light speed can't be exceeded... or so we surmise. however these entities have MILLIONS perhaps even BILLIONS of years of evolution on us! There is NO WAY that WE are at the center of "life" within this universe. THAT is sticking one's head completely in the sand and NEVER yanking it back out! look.. we're finding HUGE exoplanets at a record pace but that is only because we can only "see" huge planets. The Webb scope is gonna see things a bit clearer. and things a LOT smaller. we are far from being alone. and we are far from being the most advanced species in this universe. just 150 years ago we didn't even have electricity. we got a lot to learn, folks.

[@seldoncrisis6694]

@@leecowell8165 I've always been in agreement with this viewpoint, but I'm starting to move toward the "we might just be alone" perspective. A book on the Fermi paradox by Stephen Webb, "Where is Everybody" makes a very compelling case that the hurdles we've passed to become an intelligent species add up to something damn close to miraculous. Add on top of that the practical difficulties with space travel anywhere close to light speed - a speck of cosmic dust will destroy a spacecraft and any reasonable fraction of it - and the enormous distances involved. If we aren't alone we might as well be.

[@akigreus9424]

Could you do one on the crop circle response to the arecibo message.

[@misternewoutlook5437]

I cannot see how we simply stop listening in the radio wavelengths because we're "too good for that." It's fundamental in the spectrum of electromagnetic light wave energy. How could we suddenly ignore it?

[@thetallestkidaround7955]

what about the responce signal crop circles that were found in england

[@xXOFrannieOXx]

I was kinda hoping he would at least mention it but oh well

[@jonboy9734]

Would be a really stupid way to respond . The crop circles were faked.

[@JohnDee633]

@@jonboy9734 is there a source for that? That's obviously why we're here.

[@ericparker163]

@@jonboy9734 Some crop circles are fakes. That response was not. It's very interesting and not talked about nearly enough.

[@kayrosis5523]

We're far more dangerous to ourselves than aliens would be.

[@robertoguerrero3085]

We are not even intelligent... or who are you to consider the human race intelligent if there are some aliens out there we are not even gonna cause curiosity we are just a messy race destroying their world cs we think that we are the best or as you say intelligent... if out there there is some aliens capable to travel to the universe then we are just ants to them

[@Pencil0fDoom]

Erik S uh... MAYBE!!!? Kinda depends.

[@nixl3518]

@@Pencil0fDoom Exactly, all these assumptions are just unbelievable!!

[@Jlrgr]

I want to know your thoughts on the "response" to the message that showed up in a crop circle. Some claim its a hoax, but the detail and precision are striking.

[@ptonpc]

Crop circles are human made.

[@Zeitgeist420]

we got some kind of answer to the arecibo message in 2001, near the chilbolton observatory. Although it was in form of a crop circle, the story behind it is quiet fascinating...For anyone interested you can search for -> Chilbolton Circles -> Crabwood Circle -> Pi Circle

[@fjarandag]

Restraining from sending messages is futile when we have already shown a generous footprint in the infrared and radio spectrum. As if in the party psychopath scenario we were heavily panting inside the closet. Also, the nature of the message, is mostly a reflection of the fascination on some scientific/technological subject (the dna bases, the wavelength of the hyperfine hydrogen transition, ...) than something meaningful by itself. However I have nothing to suggest about a better message. Maybe deliberate intents have something of fake and self-defeating by itself and alien civilizations are better off deciphering actual radio/TV broadcasts (Might watch Isaac Arthur video on "Cryptic Aliens"). Also, maybe the messages might be prone to some misinterpretations. For instance if I examined the pioneer plaque, maybe I would think humans are about eight times the height shown in the pictures (~8cm instead of 8*21~=165cm), and that we live in a very warm weather without clothes.

[@maxpayne438]

Can you skate on aracibo's disc?

[@troyhenry6111]

Max Payne no you can not. They individual thin sheets or metal with holes that are held up by wires with gaps in between each disc. I e personally been there, which if you get a chance to go to there, I'd suggest it.

[@paulpaulsen7777]

Not anymore

[@sixthSigmaSnowball]

And the message they return is "...we've been trying to contact you about the warranty for your vehicle..."

[@findstr.s-hi-c._w]

perhaps they are awaiting a response instead of us not sending anything back.

[@patgray5402]

We should keep quiet.

[@somedudeok1451]

There is no point in keeping quiet as a species, because that is literally impossible. Even if any potentially hostile aliens wouldn't pick up the radio signals that we already passively sent out there, we would at some point in our evolution start building mega structures to directly harvest the energy of the sun (or several suns) with dyson swarms or the like. And that is definately something you cannot hide at anybody who is looking at you, due to the unnatural light patterns you produce during the construction and even after completion. Any alien civilization that we might fear right now, because they are hostile and more advanced than us, would in a few thousand years be even more advanced in relation to us and there would never be a way to catch up. Eventually they WILL find us and mop the floor with us, if they so desire. Even if we become a type 2 civilization with a fully functional dyson swarm, we would probably still be no match vs a type 2,4 civilization that wants to destroy us. But why would they want to destroy us in the first place? The local galaxy cluster offers virtually unlimited free ressources and we have nothing that cannot be found in other places of the universe, other than our culture and information. And if they want access to that, they would probably be better off just asking us to share these things with them, instead of trying to obtain them by threatening us. When your civilization has advanced past the scarcity stage of evolution, not many reasons remain to be hostile towards other lifeforms. Any fears of getting invaded or blown up by aliens are irrational and this whole discussion is pretty pointless.

[@mycount64]

Charles Okonkwo given the inverse square law our signals are not detectable very far out, the increasing efficiency means leakage is less and less of an issue. The main reason not to transmit is reduced risk. I do not disagree that the likelihood of something visiting us for the sake of visiting us is very low. Christopher Columbus did not know specifically who or what he would meet, they had to reason that nobody more advanced came from the west so if they were to meet someone it would be less advanced (then again maybe not). If in passing they happen to pick up the signal and make a detour who knows. Look at our history of advanced vs primitive technological groups interacting... it never bodes well for the primitive. We have to assume with all things equal interstellar capable aliens are currently far far far more advanced than us as we can barely get out of near earth orbits (7 missions with humans have been out of near earth orbit). They may just destroy us by mistake or via misunderstanding.

[@thetherorist9244]

"there are those among us who are not among us"

[@mystwalker479]

It's like having an Xbox, Ps4 and other console at home while they have ONE computer that can handle emulation of all of these consoles. Ancient Civilization managed to have contacted these extraterrestrials because they didn't have fear and ignorance at that time. They believe in anything what they see or imagine and have deep thoughts that could possibly be able to do telepathy. The first requirement to find the truth is to have an open mind.

[@somedudeok1451]

@@mycount64 Didn't see this comment for a while. See, it's a big flaw to think that international first contact on earth would in any way be similar to interstellar first contact. And besides, there are probably no advanced aliens anyway. The fact that we can see star light in the sky is a strong indicator for this. Advanced civs need power and one of the best ways to obtain it is to build a Dyson Swarm around a star to use 100% of its light. If a civ is capable of interstellar travel, there is nothing keeping them from encasing every single star they come across. It would be ridiculous not to do this. And that means there are probably no advanced aliens. Either there is a great filter, or we are a simulation with no need for aliens, or there is a way to create perpetual motion machines (highly unlikely), or life is just super duper rare - like not even 1 per galaxy super cluster. There is no need to worry about alien invaders.

[@arielapp9469]

the first radio signal that was strong enough to break through Earth's atmosphere was... Hitler's speak to the German's nation....

[@halimceria]

yeah. it's the rise of cosmo nazi!

[@user-du3jr2gp1o]

I don't know if I would laugh or cry if a bunch of goose-stepping nazi aliens that are disciples of Hitler show up to help his cause....

[@guilemaigre14]

Wasn't it the opening of the 1936 summer olympics ?

[@jesseward4115]

It was at the Olympics. And I wouldn't worry about Nazi Aliens cause they would have no way to understand Hitler. What would be funny is that if Aliens showed up after that being the first thing by humans they saw than they would likely think Hitler was some kind of great leader and uniter of humanity.

[@alyasgrey9370]

That's just a myth. Earth's atmosphere is pretty transparent to radio waves and any moderately strong signal that is meant to be picked up at a distance will penetrate the atmosphere. Humidity has the most powerful attenuating effect on radio waves but nitrogen and oxygen are rather transparent.

[@jimmyjimjimdoctor]

Over the last 80 years we've been making signals that have gone out into space and will continue forever. We've kinda lost the whole let's not make a noise thing.

[@Pangolin-Mandolin]

How come you never mentioned the "possible" reply that was received in crop circle form? It was sent in the same format as the Aricibo message, but etched into the crops next to a radio telescope in Britain. Even if you you don't believe in that type of stuff, it's still really interesting...

[@fruity3693]

Yeah

[@Pangolin-Mandolin]

@@fruity3693... Right?!!!!!

[@fruity3693]

Cassius Malachi and there was another crop circle right next to it that looked like it was a face

[@MegaYobs]

I think it's kind of a moot point. We're much more likely to wipe ourselves out in the time it likely takes for our messages to be discoverable by anyone interesting enough to be dangerous. We can shout at the sky all we want, odds are there's not going to be anyone on earth to hear the reply, whatever it is, in 5,000+ years. And if we do survive that long we'll probably be godlike compared to now, and not someone you'd want to pick a fight with.

[@jesseward4115]

If humanity is going to wipe it's self out than we better do it fast cause in about 100 to 500 years from now we will be at a point where humans are nearly impossible to be wiped out. Once we have stable, off world colonies than we are pretty much safe from self destruction and even external destruction.

[@brandyraccoon1473]

It is arrogant to assume no response is possible for millennia. An advanced alien civilization could have sent self-replicating drones out millions of years ago. There could be any number of drones already in our solar system, quietly undiscovered and listening. Although I suppose such drones could detect Earth civilization with or without a particular Earth message being sent. But why increase our risk? How comfortable are you with betting the species?

[@MegaYobs]

Well, my point was that nothing we do really influences our risk. We are at risk just by existing. Anyone who could be a threat to us would probably already be aware of us and our planet, and likely has been for thousands, or millions, or maybe even billions of years. Is it arrogant to assume it would take them thousands of years to notice us? Maybe, but I don't think it's any more arrogant than thinking they'd only just noticed a planet with life because we appeared on it.

[@mickgibson370]

The human race has been receding in intelligence for the last 50 years. The IQ of the average 50 years ago was 100. It is now 92 so the government changed the IQ test so it is 100 again! 5,000 years there would be most the humans that would NOT think!

[@Driekan]

Grounds Keeper Yobs I see your line of logic, but I disagree with the conclusion. There is definitely nothing to gain by sending a message out: any request for help will be hopelessly outdated by the time it is received, interpreted and acted upon. As you pointed out, it would be thousands of years. Wouldn't it be silly for a bunch of aliens to arrive on our solar system, two thousand years from now, bringing their solution to our climate change problem, only to find we have morphed into a Kardashev-2 civilization and Earth doesn't even exist anymore, having been torn apart for building materials? On the other hand, actively drawing attention to ourselves could be unhealthy. Any civilization that is reliably capable of interstellar travel should be easily capable of identifying that Earth has life on it (remotely checking out the composition of our atmosphere should do the trick for that), but identifying that there is not only intelligent life here, but that it is aggressive, predatory intelligent life with a tendency for exponential expansion and at the cusp of achieving interplanetary status is something else. We may be big fish ourselves by the time this message reaches anyone, but an older civilization could presumably be much bigger fish and willing to take that shot. In two thousand years, there is a fair chance that humanity as a whole would be edging towards K2 status, but each individual human nation would likely be K1 or less, and an older, more established species (possibly one with a single polity that is at K2 status) would see that as easy pickings. It is a 2x2 matrix. Either we send the message or not; either there are dangerous intelligent species out there or not. Not sending messages doesn't yield any negative outcomes regardless. Sending has at least the chance (however tiny) of a negative outcome, while 0 chance of a positive one. Not sending a message is therefore the stronger choice, if only barely.

[@anyjen]

I'm picturing an alien getting our hopeful message as interference on whatever their equivalent of a TV is in the middle of whatever their equivalent of a soap opera is and banging it a couple of times to get it to work again. That, or seeking us out to destroy us for ruining the end of their show.

[@ptonpc]

@John Barber I want my episode of Single Female Lawyer!

[@basedbartholomew3968]

4:27 that’s EXACTLY the sound I heard last night!

[@livestreamparty27]

We should build a space wall and make the aliens pay for it.

[@somedudeok1451]

There is no point in keeping quiet as a species, because that is literally impossible. Even if any potentially hostile aliens wouldn't pick up the radio signals that we already passively sent out there, we would at some point in our evolution start building mega structures to directly harvest the energy of the sun (or several suns) with dyson swarms or the like. And that is definately something you cannot hide at anybody who is looking at you, due to the unnatural light patterns you produce during the construction and even after completion. Any alien civilization that we might fear right now, because they are hostile and more advanced than us, would in a few thousand years be even more advanced in relation to us and there would never be a way to catch up. Eventually they WILL find us and mop the floor with us, if they so desire. Even if we become a type 2 civilization with a fully functional dyson swarm, we would probably still be no match vs a type 2,4 civilization that wants to destroy us. But why would they want to destroy us in the first place? The local galaxy cluster offers virtually unlimited free ressources and we have nothing that cannot be found in other places of the universe, other than our culture and information. And if they want access to that, they would probably be better off just asking us to share these things with them, instead of trying to obtain them by threatening us. When your civilization has advanced past the scarcity stage of evolution, not many reasons remain to be hostile towards other lifeforms. Any fears of getting invaded or blown up by aliens are irrational and this whole discussion is pretty pointless.

[@randomdude8877]

I wonder if killing would end on our planet if we had unlimited resources.

[@greenman5255]

Keep...QUIET!

[@JimmySquiky]

chicken

[@thermophile2106]

No.

[@somedudeok1451]

There is no point in keeping quiet as a species, because that is literally impossible. Even if any potentially hostile aliens wouldn't pick up the radio signals that we already passively sent out there, we would at some point in our evolution start building mega structures to directly harvest the energy of the sun (or several suns) with dyson swarms or the like. And that is definately something you cannot hide at anybody who is looking at you, due to the unnatural light patterns you produce during the construction and even after completion. Any alien civilization that we might fear right now, because they are hostile and more advanced than us, would in a few thousand years be even more advanced in relation to us and there would never be a way to catch up. Eventually they WILL find us and mop the floor with us, if they so desire. Even if we become a type 2 civilization with a fully functional dyson swarm, we would probably still be no match vs a type 2,4 civilization that wants to destroy us. But why would they want to destroy us in the first place? The local galaxy cluster offers virtually unlimited free ressources and we have nothing that cannot be found in other places of the universe, other than our culture and information. And if they want access to that, they would probably be better off just asking us to share these things with them, instead of trying to obtain them by threatening us. When your civilization has advanced past the scarcity stage of evolution, not many reasons remain to be hostile towards other lifeforms. Any fears of getting invaded or blown up by aliens are irrational and this whole discussion is pretty pointless.

[@greenman5255]

Charles, you made a lot of really good points, but to respond to your last comment: "this whole discussion is pretty pointless"...most discussions on KZbin are pretty pointless. I personally think there are plenty terrestrial threats to worry about and our fellow man is the top of that list.

[@liamoday987]

Ya, don't stay quiet. We got nothing to lose.

[@frankcelestino7816]

I am typically of the "move fast and break things" mentality So my answer should be obvious. It would definitely be prudent not to send out signals until we had a better idea of who we could be contacting, but at the same time any possibility of decreasing the amount of time until contact is very tempting.

[@brianmcandrew719]

Reach out for sure. We gotta try and grab the universe by the big blue ball!

[@grimmreality5251]

Based on human behaviour, and how we treated indigenous civilisations, we clearly should not send messages until we understand what is out there.

[@matheusteixeiralemos2771]

That's based on a sample size of one, tough. There might be entire planets of beings that evolved to be cooperative, instead of competitive.

[@JimmySquiky]

They're not us and coming from where they live would be a hell expansive travel... Alien won't come to invade the earth, it's just not worth it. If you want a new planet for your specie why go on a planet you have to fight to get when you can take an unhabited planet without fighting. I think most people think humans are more interesting than we're really are. If somehow they can come to us the earth nor us is a matter of interest for them. The only thing I can see them sending to us are scientists and even that is not likely because they're better of sending drones to collect data.

[@pairot01]

We conquered civilizations because labour and resources were extremely limited to us, that wouldn't be the case for a civilization capable of interstellar travel.

[@somedudeok1451]

There is no point in keeping quiet as a species, because that is literally impossible. Even if any potentially hostile aliens wouldn't pick up the radio signals that we already passively sent out there, we would at some point in our evolution start building mega structures to directly harvest the energy of the sun (or several suns) with dyson swarms or the like. And that is definately something you cannot hide at anybody who is looking at you, due to the unnatural light patterns you produce during the construction and even after completion. Any alien civilization that we might fear right now, because they are hostile and more advanced than us, would in a few thousand years be even more advanced in relation to us and there would never be a way to catch up. Eventually they WILL find us and mop the floor with us, if they so desire. Even if we become a type 2 civilization with a fully functional dyson swarm, we would probably still be no match vs a type 2,4 civilization that wants to destroy us. But why would they want to destroy us in the first place? The local galaxy cluster offers virtually unlimited free ressources and we have nothing that cannot be found in other places of the universe, other than our culture and information. And if they want access to that, they would probably be better off just asking us to share these things with them, instead of trying to obtain them by threatening us. When your civilization has advanced past the scarcity stage of evolution, not many reasons remain to be hostile towards other lifeforms. Any fears of getting invaded or blown up by aliens are irrational and this whole discussion is pretty pointless.

[@redogg2749]

@@pairot01 depending what they're power source was though, they could very well be powered by living organic matter instead of the usual fusion/antimatter as we humans seem to think would be the best option.

[@jimmyb3333]

Doesn’t even mention the Arecibo reply. They can leave a message hundreds of feet tall in a field and these chumps still won’t see it and wonder where all the messages are. Facepalm.

[@remliqa]

Reminds me of Isaac Arthur's video titled "Sleeping Giants" , it's in his Fermi Paradox series.

[@QuantumBraced]

When a signal like that is "received", how long would the receiving party have to actually get it. Is it just the length of the transmission? Because that's like a fraction of a second.

[@GerzonChon]

Grow your beard. Nouf said.

[@bigc7t]

Talk about the message we received in a crop circle , that was identical to the arecibo message.

[@VGAstudent]

What a brilliant novel idea! Radio archeology by an advanced species that practices the art of using an entirely hyper advanced internet "wired" galaxy to perform a type of radio archeology, similar to what we've done with geology, they could do with inhabited star systems; using radio telescopes to study radio signals of the cosmos, if you hear a radio signal from one part of space that is then repeated later, listening at the same point in the cosmos, but with the listening outpost in a different part of space, you have the ability to tiangulate it's origins based on the strength of the signal and when it hit your colony in relation to the speed of light / radio, in this case, giving you an almost insanely precise moment of the signal's origin in time and space, and they would be able to match it up with the visual movement of our star through the milky way galaxy with some bit of an offset that spun around the star as time went by, only giving you a clear picture if you enhabit the entire globe of stars surrounding our solar system; so it seems we'd be under some pretty big scrutiny if there were such a circumstance. Who knows? Maybe the huge supervoid we're currently living in is an elaborate reservation, constructed by the aliens of the universe to keep us at a distance until we learn to be civilized. (And they've been seeing Trump political television ads, my God I'm embarrassed.)

[@meteor09]

Can you do a video explaining the images on the pioneer plaque/Voyager Golden record?

[@KGisthename]

There was a crop circle that seem to be a rely to the Aracebo message, if anyone wants to check it out.

[@RyanVJones]

Silence _is_ golden

[@hitmanpete1]

I love your t-shirt, where did you get it from ? !!

[@joescott]

answerswithjoe.com/shirts

[@nicolegagnon4642]

Love!!! This was what was found in crop circle in the UK

[@postpunk6947]

When I think about this topic, I am reminded of Terry Bisson's short story They're Made Out of Meat.

[@whatever5429]

I agree with the 'wait and listen' coalition. We really don't know what is out there, and I do firmly believe that there are other intelligent lifeforms.

[@dominicfastbender4029]

Funny if they only saw the dorito's ad and replied 'you can keep that cancer to yourselves, dont make us go full deathstar on you'.

[@Zorton_]

Ancient astronaut theory suggests we’ve already been contacted and that the silence is a matter of perspective.

[@yaeldragwyla8170]

I made that previous comment before I got all the way through your video, and you did cover the possibility I described. But could you make a video about how general assumptions of what can and can be done, even among scientists, have held technological and scientific evolution in ways that have sometimes been critical?

[@chialeux514]

The "Hide from the murderer" analogy is representative of two aspects of our psyche. First, we're a paranoid and violent species, so others must be the same way, right ? Two, we have no idea how NOISY we are ! In a Friday the 13th movie, a teen hiding hiding in the dark has a chance of escaping Jason. But if he's covered with little blinking lights, forget it. This is us. For decades now, long before the Arecibo signal, we've been loudly advertising our presence with our constant TV and radar transmissions. This represents a sphere expanding at the speed of light in all directions. If they're out there aliens will eventually pick up our signal and discover our location, even if they can't figure out what we're saying. And if they decide to invade, well at least we have Bruce Willis, so sucks to be them.

[@victorc7373]

There was also the carpenters song "Calling occupants" which was planned to be a simultanious release worldwide.

[@leroya160]

They just got a message sent from Tony Stark to Pepper Potts. Saying he wouldn't be home for dinner.