Would ETI use radio waves moving at the speed of light to seek contact… if there was an alternative?
“Natural communication” between species using conventional radio is almost impossible over interstellar distances.
As ‘natural communication’ I describe an exchange of ideas where the sender can expect a reply before he/she has died from old age…
Using radio waves for communication is like sending mail with the Pony Express. Radio is bound to the “slow” speed of light, at about 1 billion km/h.
That may seem fast, except it isn’t, considering interstellar distances. Extraterrestrial species live so far from us that at best it will take us 8.7 years to send and receive a return message.
That is the time it takes for radio waves to pass to and from our nearest neighboring star system, Alpha Centauri.
Clearly, the speed of horses or light is not sufficient to speak to ET. Unfortunately, we can’t make horses or light go any faster. Is it possible to develop something faster than light to send a message (or people) to far-off lands?
Something faster than light?
Can the Alcubierre/Lentz drive move objects at hyperspeed? Is there any hint that extraterrestrial intelligence ever used “spacecraft unknown to humanity” to visit Earth, maybe to seek contact?
Are UAPs/UFOs spacecraft in the traditional sense, with occupants, or do they just contain a message that can be unlocked, for instance by transmitting a radio key sequence?
We don’t know.
UFO sightings are understood by the Contact Initiative as possible signs of extraterrestrial technology. These sightings are fairly abundant.
SETI, by contrast, has not found any techno signatures of verified alien origin despite over 50 years of searching. Has SETI not been successful because it has looked for technosignatures in the wrong direction?
The Contact Initiative believes that there is a reasonably good chance for an UFO/ET connection to exist. This, I believe, is sufficient grounds to include UFOs/UAPs in searches for techno-signatures of alien civilizations
Superluminal spacecraft are the easiest way to contact civilizations that have not developed faster than light communication technology, such as Earth.
It makes sense to attempt listening for radio signatures from UAPs.
Robert Fish wrote in an Email to John Podesta that
“there was a specific electronic signature (frequency) emanating from them (UFOs/UAPs) when they were going into or coming out of the water, so they were easy to track.”
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/31721
I propose to transmit back to the UAP.
This may be a message of peace, mathematical code, or an echo of their own radio emissions. Or whatever else we can think of.
The Contact Initiative aims to establish radio contact with UAP.
In my understanding this project doesn’t fall under the restrictions of the statement of the SETI Institute concerning contacting alien civilization: https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/meti_statement_0.html
The SETI Institute is concerned with the effects of contacting ETIs on distant planets that are not aware of our existence. SETI Institute doesn’t want to alert potentially hostile Aliens to our presence.
On the other hand, we have been aware of UAP/UFO for decades, if not millenia. And, unless they are blind, so have UAP/UFO.
Therefore the (First) Contact protocol is not applicable.
What do you think? Join the discussion on https://reddit.com/r/contactproject and https://contactproject.org.
Best, Eric