Today on Far Future Horizons we presents a clip from “The
Sky at Night featuring Carl Sagan and Patrick Moore.
The clip comes from the episode “Life in the Universe”
that aired on Wednesday 15th May 1974 on BBC 1.
Patrick Moore interviews Dr Carl Sagan, astronomer and
exobiologist, on the possibility of life on other planets.
Carl Sagan, along with many others, had
argued that all technical civilizations, no matter how advanced or exotic, will
speak in the language of science and mathematics and most will stumble upon
radio technology for communication at some point in technical development,
perhaps even very early.
Given the narrow range of the
observed habitability of complex life in our own solar system combined with the
vast distances of space, it seems most likely that one inhabited planet may be
entirely isolated in space and time from another by hundreds if not thousands
of light years in a given galaxy.
Therefore transmitting messages,
written in scientific and mathematical text in long lasting mediums such as
deep space probes or radio waves is the best way to contact an extraterrestrial
civilization and hence the best way to receive contact should be to listen to
very weak signals embedded in radio noise over a few important frequencies,
perhaps associated with the physical constants.
Carl Sagan and Patrick Moore on Extraterrestrial Life and Civilizations
Copyright Disclaimer
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
No comments:
Post a Comment