Physicists Call For Alien Messaging Protocol

schliz writes "Researchers have called for the development of a messaging framework that could increase the probability that our interplanetary messages are detected and deciphered – assuming Orson Scott Card's vision of telepathic buggers doesn't come true. The trio of postgraduate astrophysicists suggest a Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence protocol (METI — PDF) for signal encoding, message length, information content, transmission method and periodicity. The protocol could be tested via a website that allows users to create, retrieve and decrypt sample messages that conform to the protocol — which also demonstrates communication across human cultural boundaries, they say."

There is just one difficulty

[Kupfernigk]

To develop this as a proper standard, the "aliens" also need to be on the standards committee. So first of all we need a pre-protocol to identify aliens suitably qualified to participate in the standards process.

Also, should this start off as an IEEE exercise, or should it go straight to ISO? If the latter, we'll have to rename it the "Interplanetary Standards Organisation". And then we might find that one already exists and it will be us asking if we can send delegates.

Truly this is a can of worms.

Re:Try this on Earth first, noobie.

[dintech]

telepathic buggers

Let's not get ahead of ourselves now

Don't get behind me either!

Re:Orson Scott Card? Give me a break.

[guyminuslife]

But he did write one or two good books.

I mean, Hitler's book was *terrible*.

Re:Try this on Earth first, noobie.

[AmiMoJo]

Cats had this figured out years ago. Despite not speaking a word of any human language they have no trouble communicating their demands to their staff^W owners.

Re:There is just one difficulty

[shish]

I wouldn't bother with ISO; microsoft would just buy all the voters so that they can have an obfuscated binary blob as the standard "hello world" packet

Re:ShutUpShutUpShutUpShutUp

[MichaelSmith]

But due to a terrible misjudgement of scale their relativistic bombs are studied as cosmic rays.

Re:It's not

[Wagoo]

Don't they communicate by breaking legs and doing jigsaws?