If we received a message from aliens would it be dangerous to read it?

[Frank Bunn]

INTERSTELLAR COMMUNICATION. IX. MESSAGE DECONTAMINATION IS IMPOSSIBLE

A complex message from space may require the use of computers to display, analyze and understand. Such a message cannot be decontaminated with certainty, and technical risks remain which can pose an existential threat. Complex messages would need to be destroyed in the risk averse case.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1802.02180.pdf

 

[Snake_Baker]

Huh?

Genocide by meme?

 

[Frank Bunn]

Exactly.

If such a message is received only in one place, and only once, it might be possible to contain it and its harmful consequences, or even destroy it. If it is received repeatedly, perhaps even by amateurs, containment is impossible. As a further complication, the International Academy of Astronautics has adopted a “Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detec- 2 Hippke & Learned tion of Extraterrestrial Intelligence” which states1 that “These recordings should be made available to the international institutions listed above and to members of the scientific community for further objective analysis and interpretation.” This view is shared by the majority of SETI scientists (Gertz 2017)​

Reminds me of the Monty Python funniest joke sketch.

 

[Pie eyed]

INTERSTELLAR COMMUNICATION. IX. MESSAGE DECONTAMINATION IS IMPOSSIBLE

A complex message from space may require the use of computers to display, analyze and understand. Such a message cannot be decontaminated with certainty, and technical risks remain which can pose an existential threat. Complex messages would need to be destroyed in the risk averse case.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1802.02180.pdf

I love the concept that an alien intelligence (haw haw haw) will be messaging us in machine code and we would just load er' up on an open network to have a butchers. Probably be compatible with windows 10 too ROFL ....
Might even pass it around a few hackers.....

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

We wouldn't know, until we read it.
Most likely it would be a complaint. "You lot, stop contaminating the radio spectrum with your banal tripe. And what the * is a Kardashian anyway?"

 

[Pie eyed]

Most likely having travelling a long time through space it would be unsupported by the current platforms.

 

[HairyO]

I wont open terrestrial spam. Extra-terrestrial spam is a whole new ballgame!!!

 

[Pie eyed]

Extra-terrestrial sperm...Now that is a new ball game!!!

 

[Mningasimisonda]

Extra-terrestrial sperm...Now that is a new ball game!!!

Interstellar insemination? Would be an interesting way to inhabit a new planet.

 

[Pie eyed]

Interstellar insemination? Would be an interesting way to inhabit a new planet.

Panspermia.........it's a theory....not a cheap X movie.

 

[Frank Bunn]

I love the concept that an alien intelligence (haw haw haw) will be messaging us in machine code and we would just load er' up on an open network to have a butchers. Probably be compatible with windows 10 too ROFL ....
Might even pass it around a few hackers.....

No, we can't load it onto an open network. As the paper states

A computer in a box on the moon is built to execute the code. Safety devices are in place, their design by choice of the reader, such as remote-controlled fusion bombs to terminate the experiment at any time.
​

 

[Pie eyed]

No, we can't load it onto an open network. As the paper states

A computer in a box on the moon is built to execute the code. Safety devices are in place, their design by choice of the reader, such as remote-controlled fusion bombs to terminate the experiment at any time.
​

What CPU would we have in said computer?
How would said alien code be "packaged".
A USB perhaps, or chiselled on a diamond, but in an alien cuneiform, conventionally accompanied by it's own "Rosetta stone"?
Received digitally perhaps via radio telescope....like in Contact, on the side band of a string of primes.....but amazingly viewable on a 1990's CRT screen.
Possibly written in Basic...or better Cobal or Fortran.

 

[Mofra]

I love the concept that an alien intelligence (haw haw haw) will be messaging us in machine code and we would just load er' up on an open network to have a butchers. Probably be compatible with windows 10 too ROFL ....
Might even pass it around a few hackers.....

Hey, we have a turntable on the Voyager spacecraft. We should just be grateful we don't end up with an alien 8-track.

 

[Frank Bunn]

Hey, we have a turntable on the Voyager spacecraft. We should just be grateful we don't end up with an alien 8-track.

Do you remember the first Star Trek movie? A massive cloud of energy is moving through space towards Earth, destroying everything in its path.

Turns out

Spoiler

At the centre of the cloud is Voyager 6 from 20th-century Earth. The probe was found by an alien race of living machines that interpreted its programming as instructions to learn all that can be learned, and return that information to its creator. The machines upgraded the probe to fulfil its mission, and on its journey the probe gathered so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness.

 

[Pie eyed]

Hey, we have a turntable on the Voyager spacecraft. We should just be grateful we don't end up with an alien 8-track.

The thing is any alien intelligence worth it's salt will send a "player" with the message....but if is not 110 VAC and have the right plug configuration the US will not be able to plug it in....

 

[Pie eyed]

Can you believe there was a real uproar about including nude depictions a of a human man and a woman on the Voyager golden records at the time.
It was thought the aliens who found them would think less of us "morally". Morons.
Guess who's idea the records were....?
The legendary Carl Sagan........

 

[Rotayjay]

Will we need the latest version of Word to open it?

 

[Killer Power]

I wont open terrestrial spam. Extra-terrestrial spam is a whole new ballgame!!!

A message from the extra-terrestrial equivalent of a Nigerian prince needing assistance to move money to our world.

 

[Present Not Past]

Actions speak louder than words. I'm sure they will make their intentions very clear so that there is no misunderstanding.

 

[HerveyBayTiger]

We are getting in too deep.

We reap what we sow.

 

[Pie eyed]

We are getting in too deep.

We reap what we sow.

They may rap like a sow.
Or worse send their message as slam poetry........

 

[Baby Duck]

Aliens are a myth put out by government and intelligence agencies. They feign coverups of alien crashes using technology built by us right here on earth. The entertainment industry is complicit, aiding by making an endless stream of alien movies and tv shows. The majority of people base their opinions on fictional entertainment without realising it.

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Pie eyed]

Aliens are a myth put out by government and intelligence agencies. They feign coverups of alien crashes using technology built by us right here on earth. The entertainment industry is complicit, aiding by making an endless stream of alien movies and tv shows. The majority of people base their opinions on fictional entertainment without realising it.

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app

As witnessed by all those "farmer wants a wife" and Married at first sight" watchers who voted against same sex marriage?
Them and the Goggleboxers....morons watching morons talk a about shows full of morons....except for those watching who thought they were "sarcastically"....lol

 

[Norwegian Blue]

I'll just throw this out here...

https://www.nature.com/articles/4361206a.pdf?origin=ppub

 

[Forest Bomber]

Aliens are a myth put out by government and intelligence agencies. They feign coverups of alien crashes using technology built by us right here on earth. The entertainment industry is complicit, aiding by making an endless stream of alien movies and tv shows. The majority of people base their opinions on fictional entertainment without realising

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app

Aliens are myth to some humans the same way space travel is a myth to monkeys. Those claiming aliens as myth base their opinions on convincing themselves that it must be because of the fictional entertainment industry without realising. Believing you have become a know it all stops you from continued learning I mean whats the point in continued learning if you already know it all.