Robert McNees
The "Arecibo Message" was beamed towards globular cluster M13 #OTD in 1974, during the dedication of an upgrade to the radio telescope. It was the first message sent with the intention of alerting extraterrestrials to life on earth.
The message was 1679 bits, arrayed into 73 rows and 23 columns. It contained depictions of the numbers 1-10, the solar system, the human form, and info about the elements and biochemical structures associated with life on Earth.
Robert McNees
Prime numbers were chosen for the dimensions of the array, in the hope that they would be conspicuous to potential recipients.
The message should arrive in about 22,000 years, give or take a few hundred. So in around 44,000 years, maybe our futuristic detection network will pick up a delicate radio whisper in response.
Maybe we'll still be around to decode it. Maybe not.
Robert McNees
Being a technological civilization means beaming "Sorry for the delayed response – finite speed of light!” back and forth with astronomers circling a distant, lonely star until one of you manages to extinct yourself.
Robert McNees
Anyway, forty eight years ago today we sent a hopeful message to the stars.
Properly formatted, written with just 1s and 0s, you can pack the whole thing into a pretty small space. How many toots or posts or whatever we call them do we need for the whole Arecibo Message?
My instance allows posts of 500 characters, so it should take just over three of them.
Robert McNees
00000010101010000000000
00101000001010000000100
10001000100010010110010
10101010101010100100100
00000000000000000000000
00000000000011000000000
00000000001101000000000
00000000001101000000000
00000000010101000000000
00000000011111000000000
00000000000000000000000
11000011100011000011000
10000000000000110010000
11010001100011000011010
11111011111011111011111
00000000000000000000000
00010000000000000000010
00000000000000000000000
00001000000000000000001
11111000000000000011111
Robert McNees
00000000000000000000000
11000011000011100011000
10000000100000000010000
11010000110001110011010
11111011111011111011111
00000000000000000000000
00010000001100000000010
00000000001100000000000
00001000001100000000001
11111000001100000011111
00000000001100000000000
00100000000100000000100
00010000001100000001000
00001100001100000010000
00000011000100001100000
00000000001100110000000
00000011000100001100000
00001100001100000010000
00010000001000000001000
00100000001100000000100
Robert McNees
01000000001100000000100
01000000000100000001000
00100000001000000010000
00010000000000001100000
00001100000000110000000
00100011101011000000000
00100000001000000000000
00100000111110000000000
00100001011101001011011
00000010011100100111111
10111000011100000110111
00000000010100000111011
00100000010100000111111
00100000010100000110000
00100000110110000000000
00000000000000000000000
00111000001000000000000
00111010100010101010101
00111000000000101010100
00000000000000101000000
George Snorewell
@mcnees What if this message has been sent to a highly advanced civilization: a republic that has things like religion, medicine, concrete, window glass, an extensive transportation network, and a complex government bureaucracy?
Whoops, I just described Rome. They don't have radios.
Robert McNees
00000000111110000000000
00000011111111100000000
00001110000000111000000
00011000000000001100000
00110100000000010110000
01100110000000110011000
01000101000001010001000
01000100100010010001000
00000100010100010000000
00000100001000010000000
00000100000000010000000
00000001001010000000000
01111001111101001111000
That’s it. That’s the whole message to the stars.
Any new social media platform should set their character limit so that a single post can accommodate the entire Arecibo Message.
Robert McNees
@DoesntExist Lol
Robert McNees
You can do it pretty easily if you're allowed to use Unicode braille characters
⡄⡂⡆⡁⡅⡃⡇⡠⢠⠄⡢
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣤⢲
⣀⠀⠀⣀⡘⠚⣚⠀⠀⣀
⠷⠴⠄⠴⠦⠄⠶⠭⠄⠷⠴⠄
⣀⣈⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣈⡄
⣖⢀⠀⠒⣄⠀⢒⣂⠀⣖⢀
⠉⠩⠁⠉⠉⣥⠉⠉⠁⠉⠩⠁
⠒⡒⠃⠀⠀⢿⠀⠀⠀⠒⡒⠃
⠀⠈⠒⠤⠀⣻⠀⣀⠤⠊
⠀⡠⠒⠉⠀⣞⠀⠀⠉⠢⡀
⠘⢄⠀⠀⠀⠝⠀⠀⣀⠔⠁
⠀⡆⠉⠒⣂⣆⡒⠉
⠄⠥⠄⠊⢸⢿⠈⠂⢱⣟⢾⡇
⠀⠇⠀⠀⠼⠸⠄⠀⠘⠋⠉⠁
⠀⠿⠇⠂⠂⠁⠂⡆⡆⠆⠆⠂
⠀⢀⡤⠖⠛⠛⠓⠦⣄
⢰⠋⢸⠢⡀⠀⡠⢺⠈⢳
⠀⠀⠸⢀⠈⡊⡀⠸
⠈⠉⠁⠈⠉⠉⠈⠀⠉⠉
(Thanks, @FakeUnicode, wherever you are.)
George Snorewell
@mcnees This is my standard answer to the Fermi Paradox: it's not a paradox. The window of possibility is ludicrously small.
Somehow we don't recognize this from our own history -- would we "hear" ourselves 22,000 years ago? What about 220 years ago?
How 'bout 22,000 years from now?
;)
seachanged
We only sent one copy and it took about 3 minutes.
That's one unique grain of sand in a vast sea of time.
SETI says one of their receivers could capture it in M13, where it was aimed, given an antenna the size of Arecibo, but whoever was receiving would have to be looking right at the signal when it arrived.
A vast sea of space, as well.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eYDBTYfn9D8&pp=ygUQbm8gb25lIHJlY2VpdmluZw%3D%3D
Josh Kovach
@mcnees I first learned about the message from this gem of a book
Joel VanderWerf
@mcnees "Every passing hour brings the Solar System forty-three thousand miles closer to Globular Cluster M13 in Hercules—and still there are some misfits who insist that there is no such thing as progress." -- Kurt Vonnegut
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