The content of Lewis Thomas' Ceti is a brief essay excerpted from The Lives of a Cell book.
Written in 1975, this essay by Lewis discusses the use of radio astronomy for communicating with extraterrestrial beings in other galaxies and planets. Despite this, he also delves into the challenges associated with reaching out to intelligent life, ultimately leading to Lewis Thomas' central argument.
Lewis Thomas, in his essay, advises that communicating with extraterrestrial life requires careful consideration of our words. He proposes the possibility of alien life on Tau Ceti, a star similar to our sun and relatively close to us. Consequently, attempts are being made to establish communication with Tau Ceti. In 1972, scientists from various countries convened at the CETI conference to discuss strategies for conversing with extraterrestrial beings. They reached a con
...sensus that radio astronomy was the most efficient approach for communication.
Lewis Thomas answers the question of why we want to make contact with extraterrestrials by stating that the earth has become too small and confining, like outgrowing a small town in a small country. With the sky not being the limit, but rather a shell we live beneath, the discovery of extraterrestrial life prompts questions about how we will react.
Thomas thinks that we will probably get used to the notion of hearing back from alien life by the time it reaches us. He says that we can already provide a logical explanation for how life could have originated in various places. Nevertheless, conversing with remote extraterrestrial species presents an enormous obstacle because of the immense distance separating Earth and Tau Ceti.
Thomas suggests that communicating over long distances i
difficult because it could take up to 200 years for a response to a basic message like "hello, are you there?". To ensure effective communication, relevance is key. Rather than conversing, Thomas proposes sending music as the best way to convey human characteristics to extraterrestrial beings.
Thomas suggests that each person will have their own preferred initial question. Therefore, it may be more advantageous to refrain from asking right away and instead meticulously ponder the most optimal questions to pose.
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