Imagine dining in a European capital where you do not know the local language. The waiter speaks little English, but by hook or by crook you manage to order something on the menu that you recognise, eat and pay for. Now picture instead that, after a hike goes wrong, you emerge, starving, in an Amazonian village. The people there have no idea what to make of you. You mime chewing sounds, which they mistake for your primitive tongue. When you raise your hands to signify surrender, they think you are launching an attack.
Communicating without a shared context is hard. For example, radioactive sites must be left undisturbed for tens of thousands of years; yet, given that the English of just 1,000 years ago is now unintelligible to most of its modern speakers, agencies have struggled to create warnings to accompany nuclear waste. Committees responsible for doing so have come up with everything from towering concrete spikes, to Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”, to plants genetically modified to turn an alarming blue. None is guaranteed to be future-proof.
Some of the same people who worked on these waste-site messages have also been part of an even bigger challenge: communicating with extraterrestrial life. This is the subject of “Extraterrestrial Languages”, a new book by Daniel Oberhaus, a journalist at Wired.
Nothing is known about how extraterrestrials might take in information. A pair of plaques sent in the early 1970s with Pioneer 10 and 11, two spacecraft, show nude human beings and a rough map to find Earth—rudimentary stuff, but even that assumes aliens can see. Since such craft have no more than an infinitesimal chance of being found, radio broadcasts from Earth, travelling at the speed of light, are more likely to make contact. But just as a terrestrial radio must be tuned to the right frequency, so must the interstellar kind. How would aliens happen upon the correct one? The Pioneer plaque gives a hint in the form of a basic diagram of a hydrogen atom, the magnetic polarity of which flips at regular intervals, with a frequency of 1,420MHz. Since hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, the hope is that this sketch might act as a sort of telephone number. | Were ya na ị na-eri nri na isi obodo Europe ebe ị na-amaghị asụsụ ejiri mara ha. Onye na ebutere nri mmadụ nri na-asụ obere bekee, mana site n'ụzọ ọbụla okwere omume, ị ghọta nri ị matara n'ime akwụkwọ nri, rie ma kwụọ ọgwọ. Ugbu a, lee anya na nke a, mgbe ị gara ije nke na-agaghị ọfụma, ị pụta, agụụ na-agụgbu gị, n'otu ime obodo ndị Amazon. Ndị bi ebe ahụ amaghị ihe ha ga-eme gị. Mgbe ị na-eme ụda ịta ihe, ha e nwere ya dika asụsụ obodo gị. Mgbe ị weliri aka gị iji gosipụta nnyefe, ha na-eche na ị na-ebido ọgụ. Ikwurita okwu n’enweghi onodu nkekọrịta na araahụ. Dịka ọmụmaatụ, a ga-ahapụrịrị saịtị redio redio na-egbochi nsogbu ruo ọtụtụ iri puku afọ; n'agbanyeghị nke ahụ, ebe ọ bụ na ndị Bekee nke naanị otu puku afọ gara aga amaghịzi ihe ọtụtụ ndị na-ekwu okwu n'oge e kwuru, ndị ụlọ ọrụ agbaala mbọ mepụta ịdọ aka ná ntị iji soro nsị nuklia. Kọmitii ndị na-ahụ maka ịme ihe a ewepụtala ihe niile site na ihe ndozi dị elu, na Edvard Munch nke "mkpu ahụ", na osisi ndị gbanwere mkpụrụ ndụ ihe nketa iji gbanwee acha anụnụ anụnụ. Onweghi onye kwere nkwa ị nogide n’iru. ụfọdụ n'ime otu ndị ahụ rụrụ ọrụ na ozi saịtị ndị a abụrụla akụkụ nke nnukwu ihe ịma aka: ịkọrọ ndụ ndị ọzọ na ụwa. Nke a bụ isiokwu nke "asụsụ ndị ọzọ", Akwụkwọ ọhụrụ nke Daniel Oberhaus, onye nta akụkọ na 'Wiired.' Onweghi ihe a matara gbasara etu ndi ozo si enweta ozi. Otu mbadamba nkume e zigara na mmalite afọ ndị 1970 na Pioneer 10 na 11, ugboelu abụọ, na-egosi ụmụ mmadụ gba ọtọ na akwụkwọ ntụzi aka ịchọta ụwa na ihe ndi nọ n'ime ya, mana nke a gosipụtara na ndi ọbia ụwa na-ahụ ụzọ. Ebe ọ bụ na ụdị ọrụ a enweghị ohere karịrị nke pere mpe ịchọta ya, redio sitere na ụwa, na-aga ọsọ ọsọ, nwere ike ịkpọtụrụ ha. Mana dịka a ga-akụrịrị redio nke ụwa na ụda ziri ezi, otu a ka ọ ga-adị na nke ndị 'interstellar'. Olee otú ndị ọbịa ga-esi mara nke ziri ezi? Ihe ncheta nke ndị ọsụ ụzọ na-enye ihe ngosi dị n'ụdị eserese nke mbido atọm nke 'hydrogen' , nke magnetik na-agbadata na mgbe niile, yana ugboro 1,420MHz. Ebe 'hydrogen' bụ ihe kachasị ụba na mbara igwe, olile anya bụ na eserese a nwere ike rụọ ọrụ dị ka ụdị nọmba ekwentị. |