SETI and Radio Messages

I was thinking about messages when walking home, then, all of a sudden, inspiration! I will make something about radio messages and SETI!

So first, what is a radio message? It is just a low energy photon (often described as a 'packet' of light). To help visualise what low energy photons are, you can look at this colour spectrum:

  

Radio waves are way off to the right end of the spectrum, past the 'R' (or the number 750, meaning the light wave is 750nm long). The reason photons are particles, but we see them as waves, is all getting into particle-wave duality. Basically, they are particles if you say they are, but waves if you say they are.*

So anyway, we can encode information in the radio waves. There are probable many ways to do it, but one of the simplest is the one used by arecibo. First, it converted a picture into 1s and 0s. Then, it began to broudcast the message. A 1 meant 'one second of 230 Mhz' and a 0 meant 'one second of 230 Mhz, just shifted by 10 Hz'

Imagine that coloured pixels mean 1, and black ones mean 0. That is what was sent.

So, we could send any image up into space, as long as we encode it. But would the aliens understand? An idea is to create a universal language that can be interpreted by anything recieving it.  It could use maths as a base. First we could send things like 101211, which could be read as 1 (one "1") add (one "0") one equals (one "2") 2 (two 1"s). Then, we could send a few more, like 11012111 and 1101121111 (2+1=3 and 2+2=4 respectively), until we get a confirmative response (the aliens could send something like 110111211111 [2+3=5] to prove their intelligence).

Now for some harder maths. We can move onto subtraction! 3 can be the minus sign, so now we can send 11131121 to establish subtraction, and 13124 to establish the concept of a zero (4 meaning zero).

Wow, now we have basic arithmetic down, how about some logic? Let's try a simple piece of logic: 1+2=2+1. this will help the aliens understand us, so, without further ado, 101121101. Also, some simple two sided equations, like 1011211131 or 11312401.

Now some delicious multiplication. We will establish what multiplication is (5 will be our times sign). 110110112115111, 11101110111011101112111511111, and 11110111121111511 are examples of this.

And of course, division. 1111611211, 1111116111211, 111611121. And then we establish it as the inverse of multiplication. 111511121111111116111, and other similar equations.

Exponents and nth roots, such as 1171121111 and 1111811211, then we can really show our intellegence.

We will have a, b and c as our unknown variables, and 9 as a seperator between sums. 3 unknowns leaves enough room for some good equations. First we will teach them algebra, like "a0112111 and a21" (broadcast at similar times, so the aliens know they are linked.) Then we can teach them theorems like pythagoras, which is a6110b6112c611 (a²+b²=c²).

Then we could later derive physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, english, french, geography, medicine and other subjects from these mathermatical rules.

Science, I could write a whole book on this.

--Thomas Jones

*In 10,000 years, the Xkralls of the Adorra system will return to out planet, giggling and high-fiving over that brilliant practical joke.