From: ABlainey@aol.com
Date: Wed Apr 30 2003 - 06:42:23 MDT
In a message dated 26/04/03 18:49:26 GMT Daylight Time, bradbury@aeiveos.com
writes:
> My opinion exactly. How long will broadcast TV remain??? With things like
> the TiVo it looks like its days are numbered. With cable & video on
> demand,
> and one would hope eventually fiber to the home, handling more of the
> information delivery chores, then there isn't going to be much being
> broadcast
> into space. One would suspect that such signals might have a lifetime
> of ~100 years for an advancing civilization. It seems unlikely that
> we could catch them.
>
> Robert
>
>
I have thought some more on this and it ties in with several other threads
that have been discussed I the past.
I have long wondered about the natural progression of technology such as the
jump from a basic wheel to a cart. In our argument, we have agreed that point
to point is the most efficient method for long distance comms and that even
everyday local comms are becoming more and more PTP. Cable and satellite TV
have greatly reduced the TV broadcast emissions from the planet.
With lasers now being used for a very large number of comms, replacing
microwave links, etc. One question in my mind is 'how would the world be
different if lasers had been used when they were discovered back in the early
sixties?'
If the potential for laser comms had been realised way back then, would the
earths RF emissions into space only have been on a time scale of a few
decades, rather than the ~100 years as we see it now?
It has also made me think about IP/Copyright and patent of new tech. If we
had no such protections on innovation, surely a free economy would force much
faster evolution of technology, thus reducing the delectability of a
civilisation.
The long and convoluted thought process that I have gone though wondering
just how short a time, a civilisation could be detected. It has made we
wonder if the natural progression of tech and other factors, could actually
lead to civilisations that have either virtually no emissions or only emit
for an immeasurably small time frame on the scale of the universe.
I see this as a real possibility and if true, it would mean our chances of
discovering ET's conversations would be very slim indeed.
Alex
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