• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

World News Center

Everything you want to know about anything that's meaningful

  • News
  • Reviews
  • About
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / The Sounds You Don’t Hear Are For The Sights You Can’t See

The Sounds You Don’t Hear Are For The Sights You Can’t See

March 6, 2012 by

If aliens met our WNCGOTD Chayse they'd just love our planet to pieces. Check her out at ChayseMeBaby.com.

Before we begin I know there are real scientists who read this blog. I ask them for a mulligan today. I am well aware that I am going to be using allegories, simplifications and raging generalizations. Many of our readers, thanks to modern education, have little or no background in science and tend to take popular fiction at face value. Kind of like the people who learned all they knew about religion by reading The Da Vinci Code.

This blog will show that problem clearly.

I recently wrote about the WOW! signal. During the article I pointed out that I had learned that it was highly unlikely aliens would first be exposed to our culture via television and radio broadcasts. I received numerous emails pointing out that Carl Sagan, a real scientist and not some douche-bag blogger, had said that it would be our broadcast of the Berlin Olympic Games that would first be seen by our little green cousins. In order, yes, Carl Sagan was a real scientist. And, no, he never said any such thing. What he did do was write an excellent fiction novel, called Contact, which was made into a very good film of the same name, based on the concept that aliens would find out about us via our pop culture transmissions. It is one of many ways that science has discussed when it comes to figuring out how we will eventually make contact with an alien race. The fact that Professor Sagan utilized that one shows that he had a knack for understanding a good story just as much as he understood the math. Let’s face it; the fact that Hitler could be the mascot for Earth is a compelling story line.

Hitler, Hitler He’s Our Man, If He Can’t Conquer It No One Can! YAAAAY ADOLPH!

Can’t you just picture Ashley and Anne in those cute SS Cheer-Trooper outfits?

But it’s very unlikely that will ever happen. And the reason has a lot to do with the phrase “bumping uglies.”

Oh, come on, you knew a sexual metaphor played a role somewhere.

You see a majority of scientists now believe that all radio and television transmissions occur in what’s called “The Hydrogen Band or Line.” Click on the link to learn all about it. Simply put, it’s the range where radio and television broadcasts can transmit easiest. Scientists please go back to the opening paragraph, inhale slowly, count to ten and then continue on.

Anyway, all of our broadcast channels fall into that range. The WOW! signal was also in that range but was clearly broadcast with far more intensity than the surrounding noise.

And that gets to the crux of the issue.

You see, all of our episodes of I Love Lucy and everything else are probably using the same frequencies as Bloort Lorkles Zoonox (or whatever show is popular in Alpha Centauri). So, at some point, our signals will bump uglies with their signals and the whole thing will be a wash. Each will cancel out the other.

If there was some way to send an antenna a hundred or so light years from here to get in front of our signals then we might be able to hear what passes for humor on another world. I bet I’d be a comedy god on Jhornox V. But faster than light travel is still just a dream so we have to make do with the limitations we have.

And one way to get around those limitations is to broadcast a signal many times more powerful than the surrounding noise. To punch through the flotsam and jetsam of our culture and theirs to send a clear signal stating “We are here.”

Which begs the next question, “Do we want to do that?”

There are some very interesting arguments pro and con. They will tug your heartstrings and make you think far deeper thoughts than you may have previously.

I’ll make it easy for you. Yes we should.

Here’s why.

Depending on which scientist you get drunk, the closest solar system that is likely to contain intelligent life is at least 70 light years away from us. That means that the absolute fastest we could get a response would be in 140 years. 70 to get our message where it’s going and 70 to get an answer back. Much has changed for us over the last 140 years and much more will again.

For example, depending on where you lived in the U.S., 140 years ago an interracial couple like Lucy and Ricky would have either been frowned upon greatly or simply deemed illegal. Either way they wouldn’t have been lauded on a national stage and sponsored by Winston. We make our progress in baby steps, but we do seem to keep making it.

Besides, if the fear mongering crackpots rise to power then it won’t matter what the answer is since there won’t be anyone with enough education to understand prime numbers anyway. But, and I’m being hopeful here, if they don’t then we may as well get our answer as soon as possible.

It would be nice to finally know if Bloort really did Lorkle Zoonox like Ricky loved Lucy or if it all was just for show.


Listen to Bill McCormick on WBIG AM 1280, every Friday morning around 9:10!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Primary Sidebar

Archives

  • October 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • November 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in