Account Options

  1. Sign in
The old Google Groups will be going away soon, but your browser is incompatible with the new version.
Google Groups Home
« Groups Home
talk.origins
+ new post
About this group
Subscribe to this group
This is a Usenet group - learn more
Message from discussion Designer as a Scientific Theory
The group you are posting to is a Usenet group. Messages posted to this group will make your email address visible to anyone on the Internet.
Your reply message has not been sent.
Your post was successful
 
From:
To:
Cc:
Followup To:
Add Cc | Add Followup-to | Edit Subject
Subject:
Validation:
For verification purposes please type the characters you see in the picture below or the numbers you hear by clicking the accessibility icon. Listen and type the numbers you hear
 
Ivar Ylvisaker  
View profile  
 More options Sep 6 1998, 3:00 am
Newsgroups: talk.origins
From: Ivar Ylvisaker <ylvis...@erols.com>
Date: 1998/09/06
Subject: Re: Designer as a Scientific Theory
Print | View thread | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author

Bonz wrote:
> [snip the previous]
>Ivar Ylvisaker says:

> > I see no reason to assume that the aliens would want to encrypt their
> >transmissions.

> Who said anything about encryption?

It wasn't me.  It was other people in this thread.

> We do not know if they have eyes
> or not. We don't know if they are bilaterally symetrical or radially
> symetrical. Does an arrow ===> mean look at this? Or does it mean,
> "The eye in my third left tentacle wants some arsenic rubbed in it".

> >Even if they did and their language was unknown, I suspect that good
> >cryptologists (and linguist) could deduce a great deal.  He could look for words
> >(i.e., repeated patterns).  If the signal was a TV signal, a good engineer could
> >probably figure out what the transmission format was and view the images.

> How? How would you know when you got the right picture? You get a
> pattern of purple and yellow scatterings. Is that static, or a poem?
> You have no idea what conventions they use. How would you recogize a
> picture or a line of text if you got it?

We'd be doing pretty well if we got pictures from an alien civilization even if we
got the colors wrong.

> >  One
> >might be able to guess at what kind of transmission was detected, e.g.,
> >something equivalent to our broadcast stations.  If the aliens were deliberating
> >transmitting to contact other civilizations, they would probably include some
> >segments that were designed to be easy to interpret.  Images would help here.

> Even if it were DELIBERATELY designed to be easy to decode, it might
> now help.

> >If the aliens had technology that was radically better (or different) than ours,
> >we probably would have trouble figuring out what was going on.  If the
> >transmissions were encrypted and the algorithms were very good, it would
> >probably be a show stopper.  On the other hand, if signals from an alien
> >civilization were detected, there would be a lot of interest in and money for
> >some very sophisticated decryption equipment.

> Unless it were DELIBERATELY engineered to make it understandable, we
> wouldn't have a clue. You can get millions of possible pictures from
> any transmission. Which is the intended one?

 You are overly pessimistic.  We postulate huge quantities of data from an alien
world and you complain that you cannot find the help file.

 
You must Sign in before you can post messages.
To post a message you must first join this group.
Please update your nickname on the subscription settings page before posting.
You do not have the permission required to post.
Create a group - Google Groups - Google Home - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy
©2013 Google