Whale songs to be beamed into space

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2005-04-22 11:16am

Alyrium Denryle wrote:
Shroom Man 777 wrote:What the hell is the use of this?!

Let's say some Alien space ship picks this up and listens to it, and spends years trying to decipher it on their way to Earth. When they get here they're informed that it's not the speech of the dominant species on the planet but wildlife.
WHale songs have an unmistakable repeating pattern to the them. Sending them out as a radio transmission intentionally would signal to any intelligent creature listening that there is life on our little rock. An intelligent alien race would probably think it was clever of us.

Then they send a probe that comes within a lightyear of us, which finds out about Jerry Springer...and is aborted.

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2005-04-22 11:55am

After decades of research, the aliens of Alpha Centauri finally decode our message to read:

"save me from the evil surface dwellers and their sharp sticks, and I want more krill"

They promptly arrive in a large black tampon-shaped spacecraft and reprocess the "evil surface dwellers" into a more useful substance: imitation crabmeat.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2005-04-22 12:49pm

SyntaxVorlon wrote:
Alyrium Denryle wrote:
Shroom Man 777 wrote:What the hell is the use of this?!

Let's say some Alien space ship picks this up and listens to it, and spends years trying to decipher it on their way to Earth. When they get here they're informed that it's not the speech of the dominant species on the planet but wildlife.
WHale songs have an unmistakable repeating pattern to the them. Sending them out as a radio transmission intentionally would signal to any intelligent creature listening that there is life on our little rock. An intelligent alien race would probably think it was clever of us.
Then they send a probe that comes within a lightyear of us, which finds out about Jerry Springer...and is aborted.

They wouldnt be able to translate Jerry Springer without some kind of primer. Whale songs have a definite and repeating pattern and really are ideal for this sort of work.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2005-04-22 12:53pm

Zoink wrote:After decades of research, the aliens of Alpha Centauri finally decode our message to read:

"save me from the evil surface dwellers and their sharp sticks, and I want more krill"

They promptly arrive in a large black tampon-shaped spacecraft and reprocess the "evil surface dwellers" into a more useful substance: imitation crabmeat.

The funny thing is, IIRC we dont actually know what whale songs are. They arent long(very long) range mating calls because all males sing different sections of the same song. IE local males will string sections verses... what have you together into the same song... COuld very well be their version of pop music

Seriously though Whales are fucking smart...

jcow79 · Post by **jcow79** » 2005-04-22 11:23pm

Perhaps scientists are concerned with spacefaring aliens getting a goodnight sleep and not only are we going to beam whale songs but on alternate days they will also beam the soothing sounds of rain and the beach.

Lusankya · Post by **Lusankya** » 2005-04-24 01:20am

Couldn't we just sign Jerry Springer off as Communist propaganda and then blame North Korea for it?

I know that if the DPIRL (Democratic People's Imperial Republic of Lusankya) ever gets off the ground, Jerry Springer will be one of the propaganda tools I'll use against the EAOs (Evil American Overlords).

"Yes, my people. This is your enemy."