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The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

iflscience.com

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Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#231

Post by AnimalMuppet »

cgriswald wrote: post #228
olddustytrail wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creationism is effectively identical to the simulation hypothesis. It's odd that people here will accept the latter while immediately dismissing the former.

The simulation hypothesis (which I’ve argued against before, btw) is a carefully constructed argument that concludes that if such simulations are possible, then we are very likely in one. That is not equivalent to creationism.

Well, isn't it equivalent to "if creation is possible, we are very likely in a created universe"? If not, how is it different?

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#232

Post by jfengel »

griffzhowl wrote: post #222
exe34 wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes that other 'people' will be listening, no, because you can pulse it with the fibbonaci sequence or prime numbers, which are not easily produced by astrophysical processes.

Of course if there's a pattern like that it would change things. This signal seems to have been a single pulse though

Yep. It's wildly unlikely that this was any kind of deliberate signal. Whatever caused it, it only happened once -- which isn't what you'd expect from aliens hoping to make contact.

We only recorded the fact of the signal's existence, without enough resolution to make out any pattern within it. If the aliens were hoping we'd decode it, they were banking on us happening to catch their signal at a very specific instant in time, never to be repeated.

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#233

Post by olddustytrail »

cgriswald wrote: post #228
olddustytrail wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creationism is effectively identical to the simulation hypothesis. It's odd that people here will accept the latter while immediately dismissing the former.

The simulation hypothesis (which I’ve argued against before, btw) is a carefully constructed argument that concludes that if such simulations are possible, then we are very likely in one. That is not equivalent to creationism.

I don't really have anything to add to AnimalMuppet's response. Why are they not equivalent? Because the simulation argument is more "carefully constructed"?

Is that it? Because I'm not convinced it is. Creationists have certainly put more effort into their arguments.

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#234

Post by entropicdrifter »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #211
floatrock wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a story of a famous observatory that, iirc, kept on seeing really powerful intermittent signals that they couldn't quite hone in on. It seemed everytime they tried to zoom in on the source they couldn't find it again. Signal was quite elusive. They finally traced it to people using the microwave in the break room in a very specific way. Some people liked to open the microwave door before the timer went off. T…

Note: Good enough reason to never just open the microwave to stop heating. Press `STOP` first, got it.

Meh, it's less dangerous than granite countertops

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#235

Post by griffzhowl »

wolfgang42 wrote: post #229
griffzhowl wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course if there's a pattern like that it would change things. This signal seems to have been a single pulse though

We have no idea whether the signal had a pattern because the only recording we have of it consists of averages over 10-second samples, so any modulation <10s (or patterns larger than the 72s recording) would have been lost. It could have been an AM broadcast of a herd of circus elephants playing the William Tell Overture for all we know.

True. That's why I hedged with "seems to". Our only measurement of it is consistent with it being a single pulse

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#236

Post by moomoo11 »

moomoo11 wrote: post #6
treetalker wrote: post #2

Extraterrestrial as in "not of Earthly origin" — not as in space aliens.

Either way, I really hope that we establish contact with aliens in my lifetime. Hopefully they're chill, and like us lol.

so many haters lol

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#237

Post by cgriswald »

olddustytrail wrote: post #233
cgriswald wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The simulation hypothesis (which I’ve argued against before, btw) is a carefully constructed argument that concludes that if such simulations are possible, then we are very likely in one. That is not equivalent to creationism.

I don't really have anything to add to AnimalMuppet's response. Why are they not equivalent? Because the simulation argument is more "carefully constructed"? Is that it? Because I'm not convinced it is. Creationists have certainly put more effort into their arguments.

Read the papers and tell me how they are identical. You made that claim. Understanding what I mean by “carefully constructed” will require that anyway.

AnimalMuppets comment suggests all if A, then B arguments are equivalent; but how you show this is true is the actual argument. I’ve not seen anyone argue that creation being possible would imply creation and I’m not sure how AnimalMuppet or any creationist could possibly get there, but Bostrom et al make a reasoned argument.

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#238

Post by anikom15 »

34679 wrote: post #170

I had a theory that it was someone walking across the field with an electronic device, like a flashlight. So I looked up the duration of the signal, size of the field, and average walking pace. It matched perfectly.

What handheld electronic devices existed in 1977? A flashlight would have been incandescent.

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#239

Post by pavel_lishin »

entropicdrifter wrote: post #234
ProllyInfamous wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note: Good enough reason to never just open the microwave to stop heating. Press `STOP` first, got it.

Meh, it's less dangerous than granite countertops

In terms of radiation?

Re: The “Wow!” signal was likely from extraterrestrial source, and more powerful

#240

Post by godelski »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #226
godelski wrote: post #94

Can we ban IFLScience links? They're notoriously bad science reporters. A few submissions by them seem to have hit the front page recently and I'm not sure why. This article is a perfect example. There's no reason to talk about aliens here except for dramatization. I mean what even is this article? It has always been widely believed that the signal did not originate from Earth. Not impossible, but thought to come fro…

> Can we ban IFLScience links? They're notoriously bad science reporters. IFLScience used to be great, back when they used their full name, "I Fucking Love Science". At some point years ago, they rebranded as "IFLScience" and became a source of clickbait and shitty articles that are often designed to be misleading. They often have headlines that don't match the body of an article. For example, I would not be surprise…

Honestly, I don't think they were ever great. It's always been really click baity. Even flat out lies.

As an alternative explanation, maybe you changed more than they changed? As in a positive change in you more than a negative change in them. I'm sure both changed but it's relative, right?

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