Alien Worlds and their S.E.T.I. Programs. . ..

i would hate to be running a S.E.T.I. program on another world and pick up signals from earth. it would probably scare them beyond all reasoning.

think of it.

they are watching such things as our news programs. .. .

they see beings flying through the air, catching airplanes, and not getting hurt when shot in the eyeball by a peice of metal travelling at high velocity, not to mention all the other things superman does.

they see bruce or david banner turning into the hulk and doing what he does.

they see us defending our world against a major alien attack as we did in "independence day".

they see religious programming of a man killed on a cross and who rises from the dead 3 days later.

they see nuclear explosions over populated cities.

they see the "god" movie series where some old guy turns day into night and dissapears into thin air.

they would see all our science fiction, and perhaps not interpret it as such.

so, perhaps they would come here in search of the answers we had found.

and, since we really don't know much about how timespace really operates, we can not say with absolute certainty that they did not recieve the signals from our radio and television signals prior to our existance.

just a thought.

if i were an alien in a S.E.T.I. type program somewhere out there, the humanity would be offering a lot to ponder, and probably scaring the hell out me.

of course, in order for my assumptions to be right, i would first have to have enough love and empathy to know how an alien would think. either that or be an alien myself.

at any rate . . .. . . ..

i can see how aliens might not want to openly visit us, in fact they probably would have stringent laws keeping others from making contact with us as well.

seeing all we have shown them, they surely would not enjoy our company, would they?

tru.dat.

but id see independence day an learn from the mistake then bring my ships to attack in a different fashion.

aliens might not be scared they might be better learning to defend themselves, or become more iffecient

And update their virus software right

ET, i think its fair to assume that they would question why we'd be broadcasting such images on such a frequency and come to the conclusion (perhaps) that for the most part it is entertainment of sorts. However seeing us drop nukes on each other and propogating fear etc may not do us any favours in an evaluation.

Very good point! an interesting perspective to look at an "alien mind", though you have to ask the question if they were as advanced dont you think they would have similar ways to entertain themselves?

And the first tv transmission into space was that of Aldolf Hitler, not very encouraging !!!!.

Originally posted by one_small_step
And update their virus software right

ET, i think its fair to assume that they would question why we'd be broadcasting such images on such a frequency and come to the conclusion (perhaps) that for the most part it is entertainment of sorts.

you may be correct in your assumptions, i must concede. however, would we be demonstrating true empathy and understanding of aliens if we were to apply human characteristics to other worldly lifeforms? just a rhetorical question to ponder.

However seeing us drop nukes on each other and propogating fear etc may not do us any favours in an evaluation.

hmm. interesting thought considering every messenger from the heavens in the bible, in the torah, in the koran, and other religions as well first would say "be not afraid" before they would say what it was they came to say.

interesting thoughts indeed one_small_step

Originally posted by marcopolo
Very good point! an interesting perspective to look at an "alien mind", though you have to ask the question if they were as advanced dont you think they would have similar ways to entertain themselves?

it would depend upon the alien mind, now would it not?

to assign human characteristics to all alien worlds may be a very vain assumption to make, however i do consider the possibility that you might be correct, but for all alien worlds?

again, a rhetorical question, just designed to make you ask yourself that question, and not actually supply ats posters an answer.

good point though.

Originally posted by Wirral Bagpuss
And the first tv transmission into space was that of Aldolf Hitler, not very encouraging !!!!.

true, it was the first transmission we sent.

however given what we know about spacetime and wormholes, the possibility does exist (or has not been disproven) that any message we have sent outwards into space could have theoretically been recieved 200 million years or more before humanity even walked upright on the face of the earth.

I would have to agree with marcopolo. Its a little far fetched to assume that the aliens have SETI program and also no sense of logic. Logic would pretty much put everthing that they see into perspective. Then again...who knows.

Do the TV broadcasts really reach great distances?

I think that at least the first ones, like that of Hitler's speech, had a very feeble signal.

And can those radio frequencies get out of the ionosphere?

Originally posted by Esoteric Teacher
hmm. interesting thought considering every messenger from the heavens in the bible, in the torah, in the koran, and other religions as well first would say "be not afraid" before they would say what it was they came to say.

There is something I always wanted to say about that phrase you use in your signature.

If you were, for example, a cannibal, and wanted to catch another person that did not know what you wanted from him, would you say "Come here, I want to eat you", or would you say "Don't be afraid"?

I'd rather aliens catch glimpses of the fiction we gobble up, like superman, the hulk etc. Imagine their disgust if they saw katrina clips, 9/11 footage, darfur, somalia, the holocaust etc.

This point of view is an interesting perspective

We are beaming out a lot of crazy stuff. But I think that any other species with the intelligence to intercept it would also be intelligent enough to tell that most is for entertainment.

It would be beneficial for aliens to have a SETI type deal. The technology would be installed on every spaceship capable of really high speed travel. All for intelligence gathering/research purposes, etc purposes. And this hi-technology will be born from a single signal that can be verified as an ET signal.

Once that 1st signal is verified, an entire new age SHOULD be started. One that encompasses attempting to physically meeting the signal providers. However, what if it has been intercepted, and suppressed.

That is, of course, assuming there is anyone else out there within 60-light years or so to be SETI-ing us in the first place. It's pretty sparse territory. Nevertheless:

Once these images get beyond a couple of hundred light years, encompassing quite a few more candidate systems, the odds of our signal being detected will rise substantially. By that time we'll all be dead, of course, but;

Even if and when the spreading signals show our proclivity toward Amos & Andy, then Gunsmoke & the Twilight Zone, Star Trek and Laverne & Shirley, then Miami Vice, Simpsons, and Desperate Housewives, etc. - I'm in the camp that would believe that any sentient beings would only conclude "That's Entertaiiiiiiiiiinment"!

Since the vacuum of space does not discriminate, however, radio and TV such as Howard Stern/Rush Limbaugh, CNN/FOX/MTV and the Teletubbies might force them to draw other conclusions. I don't want to guess what those might be. Sometimes being a member of this human race sure is embareASSing, eh?

Nice thread and thought-provoker - thanks for the chuckles...

I forgot one thing, to see and ear our transmissions, not only those transmissions must be strong enough, the ETs listening must know how to decode them.

If we want to see a TV broadcast we do not simply pick up an antenna and plug it to an oscilloscope, we must decode it.

The same thing applies to the transmissions we can get here on Earth, we can get a signal but we must know what to do with it.

Even something as simple as Morse code must be decoded.

Ive often ponder this very thing! Great post!
I always thought it would be interesting to see other lifes culture and ideas.. If they have entertainment the same way we do? Its very fun to think of all the possible outcomes of this topic

The Universe is teeming with life and civilizations. The Universe was fully populated before we came along. EVERY civilization makes giant tech leaps at this stage because every population has a purpose and every population is supervised.

Civ's only put out this stuff for a century or two, we advance beyond that after this time. Given the scales of time and distance in the Universe, it is unlikely one civilization at our stage would hear another civilization at this stage putting out similar signals or signals we can detect with our primitive tech.

But that is changing. That's why we dont hear anything and they don't hear us. It won't happen either because you will "know" off world life before you receive someone elses TV signal so it becomes far less significant. You wouldn't look for a garden if you already had a field.

Maybe.

If you were to receive another world's films and news, what do you think you would see?

Would it be beneficial for them to perceive us as powerful or peaceful. If we were powerful, they would strive to be better than us for defence purposes. This would also give them the steel to attack should that be their desire. If we were peaceful, they could see us as a soft target? We could lose either way.

However, advanced species will communicate telepathically. This makes it difficult to hide anything. Everyone else would know your inner thoughts and you would know theirs. You have to be pure of thought and peaceful. This is why I conclude all advanced races SHOULD be benevolent and peaceful. I hope.

Sorry for the ramble. I love this stuff.

[edit on 30/9/06 by Prote]

dearest Prote,

i am glad you are here.

your dearest servant,
som