WEBVTT - Alien Etiquette 101 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.680 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to the podcast. This is 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:16.599 Robert lamb Um Julie Douglas. Tell me, Julie, have you 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.079 ever been stuck on an elevator and find yourself in 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.320 a situation where you feel like you have to make 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.880 smallpop with another person, a stranger. Yeah, it's kind of tough. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.680 I mean usually sort of look around and for some 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.040 reason or another, weather is pretty reliable as a topic. Yeah, 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.040 it's instantly relatable. Everybody has to deal with it, and uh, 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:38.480 opinions are not going to vary too much, you know, right, Yeah, 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.640 that's it's not a lightning rod subject usually, and unless 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.360 there's a right lightning rods are the subject, I guess. Yeah, 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:49.040 then then that's an entirely different elevator you're in, and 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:50.919 it's a pithy subject. You don't just spend a lot 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.760 of time on it. Yeah. So yeah, so it's in's 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:57.080 instantly relatable. But then you know it's they're all these 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.680 cultural things too. Just you know, you're talking to somebody 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:01.560 that you have no idea where they're coming from. On 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.800 um on saye like hand gestures um like uh I 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:10.240 believe it was Amanda Arnold, how Stuff Works editor who 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.720 blogs for Cool Stuff on the Planet. She did this 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.280 really cool blog entry about how like different hand signals, 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:19.200 how they mean vastly different things, you know, depending on 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:21.920 where you are in the world. Like, you know, thumbs 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:24.520 up is great here some you know, other places you'll 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.440 get you know attacked for that, um, you know, making 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:30.880 a little like wolf sign with your hands, like over here, 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.280 that means you're like rocking out or you know, or 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.520 enjoying heavy metal. Other places it's you're saying something like 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.840 really bad about somebody's mother, right, showing the bottom of 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.199 your foot too, right, you can pass your legs, yeah 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:45.120 like that actually, um yeah, that's like Thailand. That's a 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.360 huge thing there. And when my wife and I visited there, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:50.560 like that was something that's like we're just really on 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:52.920 edge the whole time, Like, oh my goodness, you know, 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.640 make sure I do not gesture with my feet when 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.720 I sit down, you know, make sure I don't you know, 0:01:57.760 --> 0:01:59.840 cross my legs so that I'm pointing the bottom of 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:02.320 my foot at somebody. And even in the airport, like 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:06.920 leaving um and flying on the Thailand air Uh. They 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.800 they had like a separate container to for your shoes 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:14.600 to be x rayed in then separate from the rest 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.040 of your stuff, because the idea of putting your shoes 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.720 in with your pocket things is just, you know, not acceptable, 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:22.840 It's insane. Yeah. So it's like I'm I'm kind of 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:24.600 kind of like washed off on me, and I still 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.000 find myself like I'll be in a meeting like here 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:28.560 at work, and I'll be like, oh, my goodness, did 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:30.640 I just point the bottom of my foot at my boss? 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.000 What am I thinking? You know? And then I have 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.040 to remind myself he doesn't care because he's not tie right. 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.800 But Yeah, So I think what that kind of makes 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.079 me think of is how difficult it is to actually 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.480 communicate with one another. Yeah, and that's just on this planet. 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:50.320 So when we start talking about the possibility of speaking 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:56.120 with other worlds and you know, other you know, interstellar civilizations, uh, 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.560 it just gets entirely more complicated, right, because I mean, 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:01.960 how we how would you even know what the cultural 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.000 norms are of another civilization? Yeah? Or what what do 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:07.240 you have in common with something that lives, you know, 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.200 on the other side of the galaxy and evolved, you know, 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:16.639 in completely different situations, which leads us to our subject today, 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.800 which is all right, if we do actually engage in 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:23.239 conversation with these beings. Yeah, what's the adequate yea, what 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:25.600 do we do? How do we behave? What do we 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:27.960 talk about? How do we talk about it? Yeah? Who's 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.680 regulating this anyway? Yeah? Yeah, it turns out a lot 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.160 of people are giving it some serious thought. Yeah, and 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.080 it's really it's been in the news lately for a 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:39.040 couple of reasons. One I think it's because there were 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:44.120 some ex military personnel who signed an affic David that 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.640 basically said, hey, we saw some UFOs hovering of our 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.080 military silences. Um, you know, we've got to put that 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:55.760 out in the open. And then there was what has 0:03:55.840 --> 0:04:00.000 turned out to be a false rumor that Malaysian asked 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:04.040 your physicist Maslin Offman was to become the UN spokesperson 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.560 for Earth just in case aliens engaged us. So it's 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:09.920 like the aliens, you know, contact us, and it's it's 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:11.520 the middle of the night in Malaysia. Then people are like, 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:13.960 whoa hold on, give us, give us thirty minutes. We 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:16.520 have to go wake somebody up. Yeah, and they're like, hey, Offman, 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:21.719 you're on you're on deck, right, and so that again 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.720 that turns out to be false. But definitely aliens are 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.400 on the mind. And in fact, there's a booking company 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:33.200 that places bets that actually has a hundred to one odds. 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:37.600 They're offering this that either the U S President or 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.560 the serving British Prime Minister will announce existence of e 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:43.640 t s within a year of the bet being placed. 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:46.680 I wonder if you can place bets on whether it 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:50.359 will be announced like during elections, you know, or in 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:52.320 the lead up to elections, Like how would that like? What? 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.920 What are what works? Like? If you're if you want 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.720 to be re elected, do you you tell everybody they're aliens? 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.440 Or do you you set on it right right? I 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:02.400 don't know. We need to talk to some bookies about this, 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.960 all the different factors that contribute to the odds, but 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:10.200 in any case, it's definitely on our minds. And there 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.159 are a couple of reasons for that. I mean, beyond 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.560 the fact that it's been in the news. One of that. 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:18.520 One of the reasons is because of the Setti Institute. Yeah, 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:22.039 and these folks they make it their job to search 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:25.360 for extraterrestrial intelligence. That's what they do day in, day 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:32.000 out satellites. UM. There list basically cosmic eavesdroppers, if you will, 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.680 searching for some sort of signal that our little green 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.039 friends are out there, and they're really pondering in a 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:44.320 really significant way, what would happen if they were out there? 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.400 What if we did establish contact? Yeah, and a lot 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:51.600 of this UM. One of the key ingredients in in 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.760 in their belief and a lot of people believe that 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.880 there there is intelligent life out there somewhere is the 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:02.000 Drake equation, which is if if you look at the 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:04.600 entire equation, it's like the one that looks like inn 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.640 equals are with a little star by it. Uh, you know, 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.159 fd N E f L f I, f c L 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:14.440 and these all stand for different things like in equals 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.840 the number of communicative civilizations are equals the rate of 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:21.360 formation of suitable stars FP is the fraction of those 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.080 stars with planets. Uh. Then you know it breaks down 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.320 along lines of like the you know, number of Earth 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.560 like world per planetary system, the fraction of those planets 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.800 that where life actually develops, the fraction of life sites 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.520 where intelligence develops, um, you know, and and uh and 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:40.000 contendering like communication issues as well, So it's we we 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.000 don't really we can't always say definitively what the value 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:46.400 would be for each of these letters, but we can 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.599 we can sort of make we can make educated guesses. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:50.960 So we make educated guesses, and then when we plug up, 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.919 plug all those numbers into the equation, we get a 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.600 sort of a rough, very rough, you know, estimate of 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:01.200 how many intelligent civilizations there might be. And based on 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.200 Drake's um own current solution to his own equation, the 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.520 Drake equation, uh, he thinks there would be ten thousand, uh, 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:12.640 communitive civilizations in the Milky Way, right, And again this 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.360 is kind of this is rough science. So there are 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:19.320 a lot of different parts of this equation that criticism. Yeah, 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.440 people will put in different numbers and say, actually it's 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:26.160 not ten thousand, it's more like one. Yeah. Yeah, So 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:29.119 it varies tremendously, but it's a it's something that gives 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.880 people a lot of Um. I don't know if hope 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.280 is really the word, because I mean, I think there's 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.239 a lot of concern and know a little fear about 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:40.720 the possibility there being something out there, But a lot 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:42.560 of people, you know, continue to work, you know far 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:44.680 you know it's set because they believe there's a really 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.360 good chance that it's there. And if it's there, we 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:50.280 need to know about it. Line up, you know, protocol, right. 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.520 And I think the fact too that astronomers have discovered 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.720 that there are three planets beyond our Solar system. There's 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.040 the idea that one of them could be an earthlike 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.920 planet in their for could produce life forms. So, given 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.560 given everything that's been in the news, the fact that 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:09.120 study is is making this grand exploration into the question 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:14.280 of extraterrestrial life, the Drake equation, I think what what 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:16.800 it's all pointing to is, Okay, it could It could 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:21.840 happen in two years, it could happen in forty years. 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.360 We're not quite certain. We've got some math and science 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.440 to bear out different results. But what if it did 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:30.880 happen tomorrow? Yeah, what would we do? Would it just 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.199 be it would be in a situation where would just 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:35.760 be chaos? Would it just you know, be everybody with 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:38.280 a radio station and TV going on and pretending to 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.880 be the spokesman for humanity, right, introducing themselves with the 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.559 President of the United States or president of the Ukraine. 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.720 I don't know people using it as a you know, 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.240 an excuse to appeal to voters or to slam that, 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.360 you know, candidates. You know, the sky's the limit, you know, 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:55.920 So you end up having to have some sort of 0:08:55.920 --> 0:09:00.080 protocol in place, you know, some sort of maybe a 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.439 decision making body, but at least a body that can 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.320 you know, direct policy and let a thought into how 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:10.400 can you effectively communicate given that, as you said before 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.160 at the top of the podcast, that it's hard enough 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:18.480 for us to communicate with one another, let alone some 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.319 sort of being out there. Yeah, because like in the elevator, 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.360 the message is pretty simple. It's hey guy, Um, I'm 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.160 a normal dude too. The fact that we're talking to 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:29.920 each other and in this owner and stuck in this 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.800 elevator together, it's not weird at all, right, right, that 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.600 we're sealed up right now, You're right, and that that 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:37.920 is really if you're reading between the lines, that's saying. 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:42.920 You're saying I won't threaten you, You won't threaten me either, right. Um, Yes, 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:47.120 the weather is great outside. So what what have we 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:52.079 actively been telling aliens or think that we've been telling them? Well, 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:54.160 it's I like to kind of think of it in 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.480 terms of Facebook. Um, not because Facebook is constantly on 0:09:57.480 --> 0:09:59.120 my mind, though I do have to use it for work, 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:03.480 so I guess it is. But but like in Facebook, 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.160 you have like your profile right everything you know, profiles 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.760 out there, and certain aspects, certain corners of that profile, 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:11.880 depending on how you have your setting, may be locked 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.240 so that if there if someone's not your friend on Facebook, 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.640 they can't see everything about you. Maybe they can only 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.760 see your picture and some you know, basic stats and 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:22.439 you have no idea who's looking at it. You know, 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:24.439 it could be people from high school that you don't 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.480 want to have contact with. It could be crazy people 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:31.760 in other countries, um, you know, aliens surfing the Internet. 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:33.320 And that's the thing. We have a lot of information 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.000 out there that's just sort of leaked away from the 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:39.080 planet and is you know, conceivably available, such as TV 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:43.600 and radio signals. So that's what from the last fifty 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.440 years we've been we've had some leakage, so to speak. 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:48.520 And it's you know, there are actually some really cool 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.000 charts online that show like just how far they've spread 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.360 into what, you know, what stars, these different you know 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:57.720 shows have reached. You know, there are portions of the 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:00.640 of the Milky Way that are you know, geting um, 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.640 you know, they're getting the untouchables, or they're getting Gilgigins Island. 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.439 You know, they're getting you know, Buck Rogers there. It's 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:09.040 just you know, it's like cultural leakage, you know, through 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.240 television and just sort of expanding outward. So if some 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:18.320 being were cosmic doing some cosmic eavesdropping, that being would say, wow, 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:20.880 this these people are kind of nuts. Maybe they've gone 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.560 through a lot of strife, They've created a lot of strife, 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:29.760 They've had moments of grace, and they have Jersey Shore. Yeah. Yeah, 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:31.480 So it's like what kind of message you're sending. It's like, 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.160 especially they choose to like focus just on say the 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.680 Second World War and Jersey Shore. You know, right, you 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.320 know they could you could. It's it's pretty I mean, 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:42.079 I hate to be too pessimistic, but if you had 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:46.480 to compile an argument for the eradication of Earth just 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.839 you know, based on television programming, you could probably make 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:53.559 a pretty strong argument. You know, but you're right, it's 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.800 it's a bleak thought. But yeah, and then and then 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.840 there's all like if Heaven forbid aliens get a hold 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:04.160 of our Internet. I mean, it's there's just so much 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.440 stuff out there. You know. It's like our we we 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.600 put like so much of our our culture and our 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.360 global civilization into television, into the Internet and into these things, 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:17.840 and it's not necessarily the best um argument for who 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:19.920 we are or not the argument we want to put 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.760 forth to other planets. Would would be like if you 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:26.239 had your complete Facebook all the way open to everybody 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.439 in the world, you know, and like, you know, potential 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.760 employer logs on and they're like, oh, you know, he's 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:34.679 really a fan of you know, these films that are 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.240 kind of weird or oh that. You know, it's like 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.080 his profile pictures is Halloween costume and he looks like 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.559 somebody I don't want to employ, you know. It's you know, 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:43.760 it's that it's that kind of thing. We have a 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:45.400 lot of stuff that we don't necessarily want to put 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.719 out there for public you know, consumption in the universe. Yeah, 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.319 So where to begin? I mean, we're going to describe ourselves. 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.200 What's the best way to do? I mean, I mean, 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:59.640 we're we're pretty complex, multi multifaceted human beings. Um. It 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.360 makes me think of one of the first things to 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.560 go out there in a in a very um an 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:12.360 actually organized way, which is the Pioneer plaque, Yes, nineteen 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.439 seventy two. Uh, this was a plaque that was adhered 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:22.560 to Pioneers eleven and twelve the spacecraft, and it had 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.000 an image on or has an image floating around right 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:32.960 now of a woman, a man, the Solar System, the sun, 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:39.240 essentially a side section of the spacecraft. A couple other 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:43.480 things on there. Yeah, there's um maybe like a hydrogen 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:49.280 hydrogen molecule, molecule diagram. Um, there's a they also have 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:50.719 on the map of the Solar System that shows the 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:52.920 directory of the craft to show where it came from, 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.800 where it's going, and uh, and some other stuff too 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.880 to judge, like is there's some stuff in there about 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.880 the frequencies of pulsar um. They'll enable other civilizations to 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.320 potentially determine the time that has lapsed since the Pioneer 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.880 was launched, you know, things of that nature, and you know, 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:12.839 and just to sort of show that like, hey, these 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:14.800 are the this is the ship. You know, these are 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:17.720 the creatures that made the ship, and this is a 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:21.600 general idea of their you know, scientific proficiency, right and 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.840 sort of like where it's sort of like where we 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.120 are in the world, um you know, I mean the 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.560 solar system, where earths in the solar system, the side 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:32.080 section of the aircraft as it relates to the dimensions 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.760 of a human being as well, So trying to get 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.560 some sort of scope on that. But what I think 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:41.520 is really interesting about this is if an alien were 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.800 to intercept this, I still think it would be a 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:49.480 little bit baffling. Yeah, because who's to you know, we 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:54.640 we bring a little uh anthropomorphic chauvinism to just about anything. 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.080 So you know what if you know, you look at 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.120 these these these people, I mean, we look at and 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.040 we know it's an the very at least we you know, 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:02.480 you know it's an animal, and you know, and we 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.440 know it's a human. But that, you know, that doesn't 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:08.000 mean another you know, civilization, you know, another alien species 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:09.760 would be able to look at that and figure out 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.240 what it was, you know, I mean like is it 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.360 a living thing? Is it sculpture? Is it you know, 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:19.920 is it a rock formation? You know? Is it just lines? 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:22.360 I mean, like you think of things like um like 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.080 like just human you know, neurological things like face blindness 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.680 and the like, you know, things that that prohibit the 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:33.120 mind from understanding, um, a form something out of context. 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.000 So yeah, they could look at it and see nothing 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.680 they I mean, maybe they could tell at the very 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.160 least that it is not a natural, you know, composition. 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.760 But who's to say they could decide for anything beyond that, right, 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:46.840 And it might even look like a cave drawing to them, 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:49.120 you know, so so primitive that they have to stare 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.200 at it for a very long time. Say whoa, wait, 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.360 hold on, I think this is some sort of object 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.400 that it was useful to them. But I think what 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:01.240 I want to look at the drawing a little closer, 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.920 because I think it more than saying anything to aliens, 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.400 I think it says a lot to us as as 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:10.920 a culture. Um. And if you look at the drawing, 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.800 you've got the male and the female and they're both nude. 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.080 And by the way, this caused some controversy when it 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:18.720 first came out. Oh yeah, there was. I have to 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.120 read this. I got this out of UH one of 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.800 Sagan's books. This is a copy of a letter that 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.680 went into Los Angeles Times, UH and the times it published, 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:30.960 you know, a picture of that image on the front 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:35.040 of the newspaper, and this this person wrote in and said, 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.240 I must say I was shocked by the blatant display 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.760 of both male and female sex organs on the front 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:44.080 page of the Times. Surely this type of sexual exploitation 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.920 is below the standards of our community. That below the 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.720 standards our community has come to expect from the Times. 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.800 Isn't it enough that we must tolerate the bombardment of 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:56.480 pornography through the media of film and smut magazines. Isn't 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.960 it bad enough that our own space agency officials have 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.120 found it necessary to spread this filth even beyond our 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:06.080 own solar system. It's kind of awesome you think about, 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:10.119 especially in the context of this image. Is really actually 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.040 puritanical looking at it now, But at the time, yeah, 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.359 it was interstellar pornography. They thought that, some people thought. 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:22.840 And you have, um, the male who is he's signifying 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.240 a sort of good will chester with his hand up. 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.720 He looks very awkward. I think he does like I do. 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:32.120 You think it just drives home just how ridiculous masculine 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:36.440 nudity is anyway, saying he looks really uncomfortable, he really 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.199 wishes he had his clothes on, I think. And then 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:42.400 you have the female standing next to him, and the 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.360 weird thing about her is that because she's not signifying 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:48.400 at all. She's not waving, so that's saying something right there. Yeah, 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.879 like she's going to be an antisocial Yeah yeah, it's like, 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:52.919 how okay? And this is this is the female. She 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.960 doesn't speak, and the other thing is right right, I 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:58.640 am the master of the universe, I think, is what 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.199 maybe that's saying. And the female is shifted slightly to 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:07.320 one hip, so one of her legs is um sort 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.320 of like at a forty five degreeing. I don't know 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:13.760 how you would describe that, and she it looks a 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.399 little suggestive. And if I were an alien and I 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:19.159 could start to kind of pick up on some of 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.159 the nuances here, I might think that she would be 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.800 open to dinner and drinks later. Well, but a part 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:27.520 of that is that she does look more natural and 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:30.560 that the guy just looks like just very stuff. You know, 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.960 she does she does. She actually looks like she's she's 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.119 used to being naked a lot. And it's the seventies 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.520 right when this is being drawn, so it's very possible 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:45.240 that this is modeled after someone. Well. Another interesting you know, 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:47.919 aspect of that, speaking of her nudity in particular, is 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:50.560 a NaSTA official censor this image before you go out. 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.600 It was originally uh and this is this according to 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:55.240 like to say, you know a lot of people like 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.480 it's been discussed enough that it's just not Nobody Nasty 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:02.000 even denies it that they they decided to edit her 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.159 a little bit so that she's not completely anatomically correct, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.720 Like she's more Barbie Doll than you know, smut magazine 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.760 rights the language of the La Times, right, I mean, 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.600 to be specific, the line that would define the Volvo's 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.679 this's correct was e racist. Yeah, and I mean with 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.879 the male it's it's still very simple, but it's obviously 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:26.240 you know, there's some frank and beans or something going. 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:28.840 I mean, you know, it's like I can imagine like 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:30.800 aliens look in this and be like, well, where does 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:32.800 that even go? How does this work? I don't, Yeah, 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.200 I don't. I don't get this. Really, these are two 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.199 different a sexual species, right, they lay eggs in the 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.240 water and then yeah, I wouldn't be able to get 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:42.960 a lick of sense out of this. I think I 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.720 was an alien. But it is fascinating because it really 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:48.760 is kind of spelling out who we who we think 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:53.440 we are. Um at least in nineteen seventy two. And 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:56.280 the other thing I was thinking about is, Okay, so 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:58.840 the plaque we know is going to exist well beyond 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.439 our lifetimes, So I don't know, forty years from now, 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:09.159 someone can intercept this, So we as a as a 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.680 race might look very different or evolve into a very 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:17.880 different type of being than what's represented in nineteen seventy two. Yeah, 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.680 not to mention, um, you know how much like I mean, 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:23.639 just you know, this is just that this is the 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:27.520 human body, and it's like you know, un costumed form, 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:29.760 you know, and when you talk about like the you know, 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:33.359 the future revolution of humans and how like wearable computer 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:36.600 technology factors into it, I mean, it's this may not 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:39.320 really be a complete picture of you know, even if 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:42.040 if biologically we don't evolve all that much, will this 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:46.800 be a good you know, image of what human society is? Um? 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.639 You know, you know this that that far into the future, 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.800 like right, so because we'll have certain as presumably you 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:57.879 will have certain uh types of equipment attached to our 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:00.439 it's at least we think this right now. And if 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:03.600 we indeed, if technology ends up, if we end up 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.840 having more of almost a symbiotic relationship with our technology, 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:08.600 you know, factoring in things like the idea of a 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:13.119 technological singularity where computers you know exceed you know, human capacity, 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:15.440 and and you know, maybe we end up with something 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:18.000 kind of like in the the n and Bank Banks 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.960 culture novels, where you have like computers are kind of 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:23.800