An obviously non-random signal, that is. Imagine they recieve something like that; what would actually happen from that point on?
It has already happened so we know what the results would be. The WOW was picked up in 1977 and no definitive explanation has ever given. People, including experts, just argue over it to this day with no resolution in sight.
Well, we realize that they’re prime numbers, and that they’re broadcasting our first TV broadcast back to us.
Then we build the strange machine that they’re sending us plans to.
I, for one, will welcome our new insect overlords.
Defrost Carl Sagan and bring him up to speed?
It will probably just be a telemarketer.
I have to think that there is virtually zero chance we would ever be able to interpret a signal from another star system/galaxy. Even if it was clearly an alien radio signal. Hell, we couldn’t have ever understood hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone, and those were written by actual humans, and were made of pictures!
There will be much media fervor for a few months until everyone realizes that the origin of the signal is too far away to travel to and too far away for a decent conversation within someone’s lifetime.
Then it will quickly be forgotten about.
Honestly we probably wont. SETI focuses on to many specifics for us to ever find a signal. We only watch a narrow, very narrow bandwidth which we just assume they would use. If they even use radio signals. Why not use light signals? You can see this physicist talk about it somewhat in this youtube video:
I’m pretty sure it has to go through a HUGE verification process to make sure they don’t fuck things up. I can’t fine the link on their website that explain what the process is (it might be in their user forums, but I’m lazy), but I’m sure I’ve read it before. Also, as noted, the odds are ridiculous that we’ll find anything. Either the funding will stop, the equipment will break down, or pirates will take over Arecibo before anything reaches us.
Point number 4 here is a starting point.
Just one? Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?
It depends if the message we receive has been formulated and broadcast specifically for that purpose (as opposed to us just intercepting some mundane broadcast for their own use). It is possible to create a self-unpacking message.
These links may be of interest:
ssuming the aliens want to make their presence known, what kind of message would they send?
-the digits of “pi”-or some other transcendental number?
-a simple binary code message-like the frequency of the band they are transmitting on?
-a complex analog signal-like the early TV broadcast of “I LOVE LUCY?”
-or a simple AM signal
We are like a tribe of headhunters on a mountain in New Guinea-we think there are other people “out there”-but we have no way of visualizing what the other people use to communicate.
My quess is, we should look for simple analog signals, near certain natural frequencies 9like the hydrogen line). If we reply, we had better wait a Long time for an answer.
I think, logically, radio-capable civilizations are NOT broadcasting to US spacifically, nor to anyone off-planet in general.
Like us, Radio communications are simply being broadcast from a surface transmitter to a surface reciever…with most of the transmission escaping to the rest of the universe.
Planet Earth’s ambassadors to the universe are The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy.
If we search the heavens for radio signals…however faint…it will be in the bands and modulations that would make sense for reception within 100 Km of the transmitter: leading to a question; do atmospheres of methane or ammonia absorb certain radio frequencies? (remember, we don’t know for a fact that the only “air” that can be breathed is a free oxygen atmosphere).
Although it would be initially exciting to hear from an alien civilisation, I think it would be terribly frustrating if all they ever sent us was the first 64 prime numbers or something. I’d hope they would send a message that will tell us something. - the self-unpacking message I linked to above runs for many pages and builds on itself - you don’t need anything more than logic and a basic knowledge of maths, chemistry and physics to be able to grasp it - and I’m not just saying that because I happen to be the same species as the author - the message has been carefully constructed using an artificial symbology that explains and teaches itself as the message progresses - so it really should be readable by non-human intelligences - and so it is possible to do.