Mankind has faced many challenges in the past year: a global epidemic, an economic crisis, climate change and escalating political tensions in Ukraine and Taiwan, to name a few. But in the future we can look back on our time and ask one very important question: was it really a good idea to connect with strangers?
Michio Kaku, a renowned philosopher and writer, is not the only one who feels that a successful attempt to warn the cosmos of our existence could be a far-fetched idea. “I think it would be the biggest mistake in human history,” he said. he told New York Times last year. Kaku made highly professional paintings winners the brutal persecution of the people, as Hernan Cortes did with the Aztecs of Montezuma in the 16th century. “Some will worship them as gods. Some people will think they are demons. And some people want to reduce the relationship. ”
But there are many astronomers who are fascinated by the idea of communicating with any celestial being and are endeavoring to do just that. One of the $ 10bn targets James Webb Space Telescope, recently introduced, is the study of habitable planets (planets orbiting outside our solar system), where other living things can still be found.
But there is a big difference between the search for astronomy, called SETI, which is uncontested among astronomers, as well as the instant messaging with astronomy, or METI, which provokes intense criticism.
The first attempt to say hello to the whole universe took place in 1974 when a team of astronomers released a you buy from the Arecibo Observatory Radio Telescope aimed at the M13 constellation, others 25,000 light years away. Thousands of years will pass before we can expect any kind of response – unless you have been overly concerned and believe that the two-dimensional seed, with a human face and the transformation of the original message, found in the English field in Hampshire in 2001 back then. making a “Arecibo answer”.
Several studies have been published on our orbiting planets on a one-way ticket to human existence. NASA, another space agency, supports astronomical research, which oversees research on “the origin of life and life beyond Earth”.
In 2015, a nonprofit research and education organization, called METI International, was established in San Francisco with the aim of sending foreign civilization messages. Two years later, sent a message, combining mathematics and music by Jean-Michel Jarre, at Star dwarf Luyten’s Star, 12 light years away.
Douglas Vakoch, president and founder of METI International, argues that if tourists were old enough to travel long distances to reach Earth, they would not want anything to offer. So we should not be afraid to start a conversation about the universe. “Fear doesn’t protect us, it just hinders us,” He says.
One interesting, intriguing concept by Jeff Hawkins in his book A Thousand Brain, and that we can create massive orbits around the sun to reflect our existence on earth. These orbits, which would orbit the Sun for millions of years, would cause a slight, unnatural reduction, a reduction in starlight, such as sending a message in a bottle to the entire galaxy.
Koma All attempts to connect with strangers raise serious questions. Who has the right to speak for our planet? What message should we send? As Kathryn Denning, a sociologist at the University of York at Toronto, asked: why do scientists have to make unlimited choices for the world to be more tolerant of danger than a six-year-old girl in Namibia, who will live longer and are they in danger?
These are good questions, which shed more light on the controversy surrounding METI surrounding people than visitors. This argument can also be considered a scientific controversy because no party can produce a small piece of evidence to prove their point. The debate is a myth, made up of science fiction, fictional theories of the human mind and (perhaps false) assumptions about the existence of celestial intelligence.
Therefore, in the end, the question arises: is there a human need for more than just the unknown? Of course, I would argue, centuries of human history have provided a clear answer: Yes.