000			a
999			_c33378 _d33378
008			241105b xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780262043069
082			_a576.839014 _bOBE
100			_aOberhaus, Daniel
245			_aExtraterrestrial languages
260			_bMIT Press, _c2019 _aCambridge :
300			_ax, 252 p. ; _bill., _c21 cm.
365			_b1228.69 _c₹ _d01
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 225-245) and index.
520			_aIf we send a message into space, will extraterrestrial beings receive it? Will they understand?The endlessly fascinating question of whether we are alone in the universe has always been accompanied by another, more complicated one: if there is extraterrestrial life, how would we communicate with it? In this book, Daniel Oberhaus leads readers on a quest for extraterrestrial communication. Exploring Earthlings' various attempts to reach out to non-Earthlings over the centuries, he poses some not entirely answerable questions: If we send a message into space, will extraterrestrial beings receive it? Will they understand? What languages will they (and we) speak? Is there not only a universal grammar (as Noam Chomsky has posited), but also a grammar of the universe? Oberhaus describes, among other things, a late-nineteenth-century idea to communicate with Martians via Morse code and mirrors; the emergence in the twentieth century of SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence), CETI (communication with extraterrestrial intelligence), and finally METI (messaging extraterrestrial intelligence); the one-way space voyage of Ella, an artificial intelligence agent that can play cards, tell fortunes, and recite poetry; and the launching of a theremin concert for aliens. He considers media used in attempts at extraterrestrial communication, from microwave systems to plaques on spacecrafts to formal logic, and discusses attempts to formulate a language for our message, including the Astraglossa and two generations of Lincos (lingua cosmica).The chosen medium for interstellar communication reveals much about the technological sophistication of the civilization that sends it, Oberhaus observes, but even more interesting is the information embedded in the message itself. In Extraterrestrial Languages, he considers how philosophy, linguistics, mathematics, science, and art have informed the design or limited the effectiveness of our interstellar messaging.
650			_aInterstellar communication
650			_aExtraterrestrial anthropology
650			_aExtraterrestrial Intelligence
650			_aAliens
650			_aCETI
650			_aExtraterrestrial cognition
650			_aCosmic computers
650			_aIntersteller cats
650			_aLingua cosmica
650			_a Microwave Meti
650			_aPhysical media
650			_aOmeti
942			_2ddc _cBK