Send a periodic table of the elements set to each planet.

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Busy-Appointment920@reddit

Wouldn't any civilsation that finds that and can make sense of it, discover those elements on their own anyway? Once they have figured out atoms?

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SurroundingAMeadow@reddit

I'd assume they've figured out chemistry, so from there they can reverse engineer the periodic table to figure out our language and numerical system. A sort of scientific Rosetta Stone.

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Busy-Appointment920@reddit

Fair,but then maybe just send them instructions to our language, numerical system plus the periodic table, and then some

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TheGrumpyre@reddit

How do you send instructions for a language without using language?

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Busy-Appointment920@reddit

well ryan gosling managed to do it in his new movie too

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TBNRgreg@reddit

in the original book, they started with math and science too

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cpt_ugh@reddit

What's the value here?

Is the idea that some day a visiting alien will discover it and find it useful? Any alien that can travel between planets already knows about it.

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SkiyeBlueFox@reddit

Idk if they know the periodic table specifically bc it is a human invention.

They 100% already know of the information on it though. Assuming they could even understand human languages

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SurroundingAMeadow@reddit

If they understand chemistry, they can use the periodic table to decipher language.

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SkiyeBlueFox@reddit

How do they know what the periodic table represents in the first place

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cpt_ugh@reddit

The Arecibo radio telescope message is a simple way to use math to transmit information that is decipherable by any civilization that understands math.

Surely that could be expanded upon to explain language as well.

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SkiyeBlueFox@reddit

That assumes they even use the same systems of math we do.

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The Arecibo message starts at the ground floor by defining the numbers 1 - 10 in binary. It then uses that to define further things like some elements, DNA, and even includes three simple drawings. It's honestly quite clever. (cool breakdown here)

IDK what kind of rudimentary math wouldn't use numbers. Of course there's a non-zero chance it'll be indecipherable to whatever beings intercept it.

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SkiyeBlueFox@reddit

Definitely likely that at the distances the signal may degrade.

I dont intend to argue its impossible for an alien civilization to figure out, but more that there no guarantee. Different worlds mean different biology and different ways of thinking. Binary is a pretty simple thing to figure out but, we cant guarantee knowledge of it.

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cpt_ugh@reddit

Ok, I think I get it. The value isn't discoverable physics facts, it's actually human interpretation of them and continuation of the human experience?

In that's the case, I feel like art would be a good thing to disperse amongst the stars.

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thejwillbee@reddit

Counterpoint - send a printed anthology series of unsolicited dick pics collected from the internet. Id think that would pretty much summarize humanity

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flamingloltus@reddit (OP)

They must be unsolicited

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thejwillbee@reddit

That is a definite requirement for inclusion, or else they would fail to convey the representation of who we are as a species

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SkiyeBlueFox@reddit

Yk what ptable would be a good way to show humans virw of the world in a way

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austinh1999@reddit

The periodic table a human invention but is a library of information we have on the elements. While who knows what aliens species might use for a collection of data a the table given instructions isnt a bad way to give it. There are elements that are only present on earth so some info may be new. Just as they may have elements that we had no idea could be made.

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zoppaTheDim@reddit

They’d already have that information.

You kids should read H. Beam Piper, as in one of his short stories, he has archeologists discovering the idea that our Rosetta Stone for lost alien civilizations would be the periodic table, because any advanced society would have a similar table.

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Mackheath1@reddit

I don't have a problem with it, but a sentient species would have discovered and named them their own way.

HOWEVER - I will fight an alien about how magnificent our organization of the periodic table is organized. I don't care what they want to call the elements, but if it's not Slagsbjorn (Sodium) next to Zorkpblub (Magnesium), I will throw hands, for example.

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flamingloltus@reddit (OP)

Lmao

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Ogrimarcus@reddit

Why?

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flamingloltus@reddit (OP)

Call me crazy, but I think it would help equalize some known or unknown force in the solar system

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Jim421616@reddit

Ok, you're crazy.

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flamingloltus@reddit (OP)

At least I’m right about that 😂

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eneug@reddit

There have been various projects over the years where they have sent radio messages to certain exoplanets or star clusters. Some of them have already arrived. See here.

The other thing they do is include plaques or other physical objects the probes NASA sends out. Then when it finishes its mission, they just drift off into space and hopefully someday someone finds it. At earliest, Voyager 1 will pass within 2 light years of a star in 40,000 years. It seems extremely unlikely that within the next 40,000 years, we won’t figure out more efficient and faster ways to send out messages or even objects to exoplanets, so the physical efforts so far are probably useless.

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Jdevers77@reddit

So planets are large, like really large. Many of the planets in our solar system don’t even have a solid surface and none of them (including Earth) have some form of space post office box. If we were to send something like that to say Mars, it would just land on the surface and get covered with dust in a few weeks or so. Unless some alien race was literally sitting in Earth or Mars orbit watching us do it, it would never be seen again. Nothing gained long term and Mars is the best place for something like this to happen. If tomorrow I decided to send “a periodic table of the elements” to some random place on Earth there is a good chance no one would ever even see it (3/4 of the planet is ocean and a decent bit of the rest is frozen wasteland or empty desert) and there are 8 billion people on this planet.

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Nothing-to_see_hr@reddit

I feel like the structure of the periodic table is so natural that an alien civilization would be bound to have a pretty similar one.

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Substantial-Quit-151@reddit

So.... You want to advertise what raw materials we have available?

That's one way to meet intelligent alien life.

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cooljcook4@reddit

Honestly not the worst idea. Future aliens deserve chemistry homework too.