ET -------- or -------- NO ET?

If Earth's Humans are the only technologically advancedintelligent material life inOur Universe,

then, as Ellie Arroway's father said in the movie version ofCarl Sagan's novel Contact,

It's a Terrible Waste of Space.

and

it is up to Earth's Humans to use the Space Beyond Earthin Our Universe constructively,

so that it will not go to Waste.

How can we do that?

First, we have to explore and travel,

by robot exploration ships,
by robot ships containing biological material that can seed fertile places, and/or
by ships actually containing Humans,

throughout Our Universe, including our Milky Way Galaxy.

Then, we have to set up a communications network throughout ourMilky Way Galaxy.

How would we build such a Galactic CommunicationsNetwork?

To carry information over long distances, we should useElectromagnetic Photons.

To carry more information, we should use high-frequency GammaRays.

To be energy-efficient in transmitting information from point topoint within the Milky Way, we should use Gamma Ray Beams that areGravitationally Focussed by a star near the point of origin.

From a point in the path of such a Gamma Ray Beam,

the Gamma Ray Beam would look a lot like a GAMMARAY BURST.

What language should we use forCommunication?

The Language of a TOE that notonly describes Physics, but alsodescribes:

All these Languages are equivalent and can be expressedin terms of Clifford Algebras.

What if Humans Failto construct a Galactic CETI Communication Network,

but just stay on Earth in an Earthbound GlobalEconomy?

Then, if there is Nobody Else around, our Earth and Sunwill remain an Island of Life in a Lifeless Milky Way Galaxy, untilthe time when Earth's environment becomes uninhabitable byHumanity.

Then, if there is Nobody Else, the Universe will beDead.

The Pogocartoon at the top of this page was scanned from page xvi ofIntelligent Life in the Universe, by Carl Sagan and I. S. Sklovskii(Holden-Day 1966), which is an English translation, expanded withsome commentary, by Carl Sagan of the book Vslennaia, Zhizn, Razum(Universe, Life,Mind) by Iosef Shmuelovich Shklovskiipublished in Moscow in 1963, parts of which were serialized inKomsomolskaya Pravda and published in Priroda.

Here is a discussion ofhow GRBs might cause extinctions of ( some? all? ) intelligent lifein our Galaxy.

Tony Smith's Home Page

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