On August 20, 1974, scientists at Cornell University and the National Science Foundation used the radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico to beam a message into space. Encoded within the binary digits of the message was information related to the Solar System, our number system, basic chemistry, and human DNA.
1679 digits were used for the message on the presumption that "any sentient being" would recognize the number as the product of two prime numbers (23 and 73), allowing the digits to be then rearranged from a linear binary stream into a graphic format (depicted at left, enhanced with color for clarity).
The message has been traveling through space for 25 years and is not due to arrive at its destination for another 24,975 years. Curiously, however, a reply was received in 2001, in the form of a crop circle near the Chilbolton radio telescope, in Hampshire, UK. The "return message" inserts the element silicon into the vital chemical elements of life, and incorporates an extra strand in the DNA double helix. The size of the creature depicted in the reply is approximately 3'4", consistent with earthly reports of extraterrestrial visitations.
Those who need help to work their way through the information in the original message will find guidance at the University of Utah's Physics and Astronomy Department, or at Wikipedia. More information re the reply and its implications at Crop Circle Research dotcom.
1679 digits were used for the message on the presumption that "any sentient being" would recognize the number as the product of two prime numbers (23 and 73), allowing the digits to be then rearranged from a linear binary stream into a graphic format (depicted at left, enhanced with color for clarity).
The message has been traveling through space for 25 years and is not due to arrive at its destination for another 24,975 years. Curiously, however, a reply was received in 2001, in the form of a crop circle near the Chilbolton radio telescope, in Hampshire, UK. The "return message" inserts the element silicon into the vital chemical elements of life, and incorporates an extra strand in the DNA double helix. The size of the creature depicted in the reply is approximately 3'4", consistent with earthly reports of extraterrestrial visitations.
Those who need help to work their way through the information in the original message will find guidance at the University of Utah's Physics and Astronomy Department, or at Wikipedia. More information re the reply and its implications at Crop Circle Research dotcom.
Seriously, how can any serious writer simply swallow this as a given? No 'reportedly' or 'Person X says'. Just the writer accepting that indeed, a crop circle made by aliens responded to the message.
Disregard what I've just said. It was obviously a couple of people who knew of the original transmission working with boards and ropes in the blackness of night outside of an extremely secure and survailed (infrared cameras, sonic devices, motion censors) government facility for a few hours. What's on TV tonight?
We know who you are. Stop it now.
This was in this one little corner of the world during only about 4-5 years and it involved the about 50-odd geeks that came into my sphere of student-existance about 15-20 years ago.
I gather that this same thing has happened all over the world since that message was broadcasted, with geeks-groups all over the world talking and fantasising about this message and the possible reply.
And so at some point some of these geeks must have linked up with the Funnyheads that make fools out of the Cropcircle-experts and in 2001 the Ultimate Joke came into being- They made The Answer.
And since then it is Partytime and they still smile knowingly while still after all this time following the discussions on the different forums, perhaps even now and then adding some spark to some discussion t keep it alive...
:-)
If it gets through at all it will probably be to some Dead-Tech aficionado who will be called the alien version of "woo-woo" and be accused of making the whole thing up.
On the other hand, the Cosmic Call messages broadcast from Evpatoria in 1999 and 2003 are much more likely to receive a reply. They're also much more interesting to decode. http://www3.sympatico.ca/stephane_dumas/CETI/evpatoria.html
As for the crop circle, no one ever said that an alien made it, only that someone who had seen the message replied to it in the form of a crop circle.
With such a loud signal, it shouldn't be long before our neighbors show up and ask us to please keep it down.
I suspect they are probably as close as the nearest pub. My kind of aliens!
Uh, yeah ... that was my first thought! ;-)