Earlier this month, a group of scientists unveiled plans to update the Arecibo message, a message once broadcast into space in hopes of connecting with extraterrestrials. The new message is expected to feature updated instructions on how to reach Earth, amongst other tidbits about humanity. Now, there’s one scientist is cautioning against providing aliens with that information should they manage to stumble across the transmission.
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Oxford University researcher Dr. Anders Sandberg said in a recent interview he wishes the message would be more careful in inviting potential alien civilizations to Earth, telling The Telegraph that “it has such a high impact” he wished more people took it seriously.
While Sandberg suggests the chances of the message actually reaching extraterrestrial life amongst the stars is substantially low, it’s still wise to exercise caution. According to him, the message should be more like a postcard that said best wishes or something along the line.
“Many people just refuse to take anything related to it seriously – which is a shame, because this is important stuff,” he continued.
Jonathan Jiang and a team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are aiming to update the message and broadcast it into a chunk of space that scientists think has the best chance at harboring any form of alien life.
“We want to send a message in a bottle in the cosmic ocean, to say, ‘Hey, we are here,’” Jonathan Jiang, Jet Propulsion Laboratory astrophysicist, told Live Science. “Even if we are not here some years later.”
“It would probably be better, since they’re going to listen to us anyway, to send a positive message,” message co-designer Stuart Taylor also told the website. “We’re kind of the chimpanzee ‘fighting’ civilization. Some other civilization just may have a basically more peaceful personality, like bonobos do.”
The Arecibo message began broadcasting nearly 50 years ago before it was taken offline months ago to the decommissioning of the telescope it was broadcasted from. The updated message will be sent as a radio signal towards the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy some 13,000 light-years away.
