SETI's "Earth Speaks" lets you suggest a message to alien civilizations

Daniel Pendick — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:07:00 GMT

On May 15, the SETI Institute — the planet’s leading extraterrestrial searchers — launched “Earth Speaks.” The project invites the public to submit proposed messages to alien civilizations. According to Thomas Pierson, CEO of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, “By submitting text messages, pictures, and sounds from across the globe, people from all walks of life will contribute to a dialogue about what humanity might say to intelligent beings on other worlds.”

For a half-century, scientists have scanned the skies for radio messages from intelligent life. So far, not so good — no “You’ve got mail” window has popped up on SETI laptops.

But if we did get the call, what would we say in reply? Think it over carefully.

“The initial messages we send to an extraterrestrial civilization could set the tone for a conversation lasting hundreds or thousands of years,” says Douglas Vakoch, Director of Interstellar Message Composition at the SETI Institute. Man, wouldn’t you like to have a business card with THAT job description on it!

I think one useful message could be, “We taste bad. Tough to chew. Stay away.” You know, like in that old science-fiction plot about aliens coming to Earth to turn us into a 6-billion-member herd of cows.

Or how about, “Does God exist? If so, please forward a contact number.”

Or “LOL/2BZ4UQT” (Laughing Out Loud/Too Busy For You Cutey)

Or maybe, “Sorry, currently perturbing climate on a global scale and using up all energy resources. Will try to respond next week. If you have a working design for a fusion reactor or a perpetual motion machine, please forward.”

If you have something to say to the aliens, submit your messages, sound, or image to Earth Speaks.

More SETI news from Astronomy.com:

Astronomy.com blog : Daniel Pendick, life

SETI's "Earth Speaks" lets you suggest a message to alien civilizations