The

Paradox of

the Great

Silence

By Ernesto Pérez

In 2006, the

astrophysicist

Alexander Zaitsev,

stated what is known

as the SETI paradox.

The SETI paradox is

about ...

quest for intelligent

signals from other

civilizations

and the persistent

aversion to any

attempts to transmit

such signals from

Earth.

… the insistent

To Zaitsev, we are living

an "incomprehensible

while keeping almost

absolutely silent."

hope of finding

extraterrestrial

intelligence

From our side we have

made some sparse

attempts to contact

alien civilizations.

The best-known of all

them is probably the

Arecibo message,

although the observatory was not

constructed for this objective.

and professor Carl Sagan, devised a

message that would be broadcasted to

a selected constellation in our

Milky Way Galaxy

While celebrating a major upgrade to

the radio telescope in 1974, Frank

Drake, with several graduate students

during the upgrade dedication

ceremony on November 16, 1974.

The next message to the

“outer space” was sent

from the Evpatoria

(Eupatoria) city in

Ukraine on May 24,

1999.

began in 1962, when on

November 12 and 24,

short signals with the

words "Mir", "USSR" and

"Lenin" were sent to

the planet Venus to

receive its echo.

However, initial attempts of

radio telescope transmissions

The Red Star newspaper

informed about the

Evpatoria transmission

in 1962. In the signals

can be seen the Morse Code

equivalent of each word.

Photo credit: Russian Academy of Sciences.

This three-word

radio transmission

experiment cannot be

considered a

"message" as such,

but it opened the

road for the future

and the more

complicated message

of May 24, 1999.

The 1999 message

─Encounter 2001 "Cosmic

Call"─ is also known as

the Evpatoria Message,

following ─as Arecibo─

the city from which it

was sent to the space on

November 16, 1974.

Shown at right is the “first page” of the

Evpatoria Message.

Contrary to the

Arecibo message that

looks like a scroll,

or like an ancient

codex, the message of

the year 1999 is a 23

page "book" of square

pages each 129 bits

by 129 bits.

The numbers from 0 to 9 in

the Encounter 2001 radio

message.

The first symbol that

captures our attention

is this:

This pictogram stands for the mathematical

symbol of equality ( = ); why?

Using a

pictogram twice

for the equality

idea reinforces

the idea of this

concept.

The first 24 prime

numbers are visible in

another “page” of this

radio-message “book”.

The numeration above

them are for easy

identification of the

primes to our

readers. Is this the first “EBook” ever

sent to another galaxy?

The unbelievable last page 23.

The message simply ask the

receivers of the message to

answer back some

questions. Basically, it is

about the same concepts

already introduced in the

message.

Page 23 is a “test”. It is a simple

questionnaire.

The page is asking

about their world and

about themselves.

The huge symbol at

the center of the

pictogram is the same

used to introduce

variables.

It is the equivalent of

our question mark.

But, will we ever receive

back some answer?

Have some civilizations

ever sent to our region a

message similar to this one?

Click the link below to visit

the Website for the full article:

What do you know about the

Paradox of the Great Silence?

http://4dlab.info

Plus more resources on this subject.