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

If Earth's Humans are the only technologically advanced intelligent material life in Our Universe,

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

It's a Terrible Waste of Space.

and

it is up to Earth's Humans to use the Space Beyond Earth in 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 our Milky Way Galaxy.

How would we build such a Galactic Communications Network?

To carry information over long distances, we should use Electromagnetic Photons.

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

To be energy-efficient in transmitting information from point to point within the Milky Way, we should use Gamma Ray Beams that are Gravitationally 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 GAMMA RAY BURST.

What language should we use for Communication?

The Language of a TOE that not only describes Physics, but also describes:

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

What if Humans Fail to construct a Galactic CETI Communication Network,

but just stay on Earth in an Earthbound Global Economy?

Then, if there is Nobody Else around, our Earth and Sun will remain an Island of Life in a Lifeless Milky Way Galaxy, until the time when Earth's environment becomes uninhabitable by Humanity.

Then, if there is Nobody Else, the Universe will be Dead.

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

Here is a discussion of how GRBs might cause extinctions of ( some? all? ) intelligent life in our Galaxy.

Tony Smith's Home Page

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