A group of scientists have completely disregarded Stephen Hawking’s warnings as they broadcast the Earth’s location to aliens.
In a bid to connect with alien life, a group of scientists are planning to broadcast a radio message containing Earth’s location deep into space, hoping it may one day be received and understood by an alien civilisation.
The message is known as a ‘Beacon’ in the Galaxy (BITG) message, it is essentially an updated version of the famous Arecibo message, which was first transmitted in 1974 for the same purpose. The Arecibo message was broadcasted from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, according to Timesnownews.
Astronomers Come up With a New Message to let the Aliens Know we're Here – Known as The Beacon in the Galaxy (BITG) message, this updated signal combines aspects of the original Arecibo Message with every METI attempt made to date. https://t.co/wEYbAPzM7g @universetoday pic.twitter.com/zUVXrQKtCG
— The SETI Institute (@SETIInstitute) April 1, 2022
It was sent in binary code (ones and zeroes) which, once decoded, formed a visual graphic showing a figure of a human, our DNA, and a depiction of our solar system.
Reports are that, the BITG will also include a drawing of DNA, the solar system, and a diagram of the male and female forms, but it also contains a lot more information about basic mathematics and science than the Arecibo message did.
BITG’s website stated that: “The proposed message includes basic mathematical and physical concepts to establish a universal means of communication followed by information on the biochemical composition of life on Earth, the Solar System’s time-stamped position in the Milky Way relative to known globular clusters, as well as digitized depictions of the Solar System, and Earth’s surface.”
Per reports, the idea is to make a proper introduction of humans and, hopefully, entice a response from any Extraterrestrial life form receivers.
According to Timesnownews, the team of scientists suggested that, future messages could contain music ‘such as the symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart or Bach,’ or scientific discussions.
Sometime In 2015, Professor Hawking at a breakthrough listening event, had favored listening to signals from ETI but advised against actively reaching out to them.
At the time he said:
“We know little about aliens, but we know about humans. If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms has often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for the less advanced.”
“A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful, and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria,” Professor Hawking added.
Despite the warning from Professor Hawking, the BITG team remains positive and said “Humanity has, we contend, a compelling story to share and the desire to know of others – and now has the means to do so.”
See how people are reacting to the news on Twitter:
Scientists are attempting to contact any aliens that might exist in space and that's a VERY BAD idea.
If the aliens can get to Earth with their tech, they will kick our ass in a war. Best to leave sleeping dogs alone. pic.twitter.com/KRZxnF4UcU
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) April 6, 2022
suggestion to these SETI scientists who want to make alien contact: talk to those who actually alien abductions since thier childhoods to get some ideas. Making contact isn't going to be like the movie Close Encounters or The Day the Earth Stood Still https://t.co/UFCat9ohRM
— chuck harrison (@0SweetSolace0) April 5, 2022
Do we have any research yet as to whether aliens prefer the landing-strip, manicured-triangle, “it’s the 70s again”, trying-to-look-like-you’re-8-again or some other kind of style for “down there”? https://t.co/DXitjwWEca
— Lenny Dykstra (@LennyDykstra) April 6, 2022
NASA Scientists to Send New Message Including ‘Unsolicited Nudes’ to Make Contact with Aliens https://t.co/JHMZeh1xS7
— Lizzygist (@lizygist) April 6, 2022
Shoutout to the scientists who sent out virtual nudes asking Aliens to make contact with us https://t.co/7GoTtHJtJv
— take care president macron (@_adamnpage_) April 6, 2022
the security issues are whatever, i'm more concerned with how cringe this is. first-contact: "hey babe here's my dna, a nude pic, and my address" https://t.co/9CnYgkFnBT
— jorbs (@JoINrbs) April 4, 2022
At the very least, no scientists should EVER get to do this without a worldwide plebiscite. Nobody granted them the authority to contact aliens on humans' behalf.
— Dilan Esper (@dilanesper) April 2, 2022