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Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

342.0. "Cosmogram: A game" by DSSDEV::BURROWS (Jim Burrows) Wed Jun 11 1986 17:01

	Some of you will have seen this in a private conference,
        but I thought I'd try it with a wider audience.
        
        You are invited to play a game here.
        
        Earl Wajenberg and I have constructed what is called a
        "cosmogram" by folk interested in communications with
        extra-terrestrial intelligences (CETI). A cosmogram is an
        example of a message that one might expect to receive from our
        neighbors in space. The game is for the rest of you to translate
        it and reply in kind. 
        
        Reply one in this topic is the cosmogram itself. Any replies
        you may have or interpretations you wish to post, should
        be posted as further replies. You may also send me electronic
        mail if you have an off-line question or a translation you
        don't wish to publish.
        
        Please treat interpretations as spoilers and protect them
        with a form feed.
        
        Interested?
        
        JimB.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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342.1Cosmogram: The messageDSSDEV::BURROWSJim BurrowsWed Jun 11 1986 17:04160
	INTRODUCTION
        
        The following is all the information you get. The "authors" of
        the cosmogram are light years away, and you can't ask them
        questions till you crack the message, right? 
        
        THE SOURCE
        
        The signal originates from the star WBSC 216 in the constellation
        of Orion. Little is known about WBSC 216 as prior to its
        identification as the probable source of the signal it was of
        very little interest. It is listed in only two major stellar
        catalogues and appears in only a few known photographs. Recent
        analysis of available data regarding the star gives us the
        following information: 
        
        WBSC 216 appears to be a very close binary compose of two type K
        stars. The two components are very similar in spectral class,
        probably a K0 and a K1. The distance between the two stars is
        unknown, but is only a fraction of an astronomical unit. The
        pair is located relatively close to our solar system, probably
        between 25 and 30 light years away.
        
        THE SIGNAL
        
        The signal was received on the 21 cm band, a frequency often
        suggested as a likely one for making interstellar contact. The
        signal was composed of pulses approximately .81 seconds in
        duration, and separated by gaps of about .18 seconds. The entire
        signal contained 54760 pulses over a period of a little under 16
        hours. The pulses came in two amplitudes, the greater being
        approximately 3.15 times the magnitude of the lesser. Both types
        of pulses had the same duration. 
        
        The signal consisted of a pattern of 6845 pulses repeated 8
        times. Each repetition taking about 1 hr, 53 min, 10.25 sec.
        Probability is very high that the 8 repetitions are in fact
        identical. Only 93 pulses are not identical in all 8 repetitions.
        Of these 79 differ in only 1 of the 8, 12 differ in 2 and 2 bits
        differ in 3 of the repetitions. In 85 of the cases, the apparently
        odd pulse is low. Of the 8 cases in which a high pulse appears
        to be substituted for a low on, only one was categorized as high
        with a confidence level greater than 80%.
        
        THE MESSAGE

        The obvious inference from all of the above is that the signal
        is artificial in nature and consists of a message repeated 8
        times, and that the apparent differences between repetitions is
        due to errors caused by interference. The task that lies before
        us is to attempt to translate that message. The figure below is
        a binary representation of the reconstructed original message. 

	1111111111111111111111111111111111111100000000000000000000000000
	0000000001100000000000000000000000000000000000110000000000000000
	0000000000000000000110000000000000000000000000000000000011000000
	0000000000000000000000000000011000000000000000000000000000000000
	0011000000000000000000000000000000000001100000000000000000000000
	0000000000001100000000000000000000000000000000000110000000000000
	0000000000000000000000110000000000000000000000000000000000011000
	0000000000000000000000000000000011000000000000000000000000000000
	0000011000000000000000000000000000000000001100000000000000000000
	0000000000000001100000000000000000000000000000000000110000000000
	0000000000000000000000000110000000000000000000000000000000000011
	0000000000000000000000000000000000011000000000000000000000000000
	0000000011000000000000000000000000000000000001100000000000000000
	0000000000000000001100000000000000000000000000000000000110000000
	0000000000000000000000000000110000000000000000000000000000000000
	0110000000000000000000000000000000000011000000000000000000000000
	0000000000011000000000000000000000000000000000001100000000000000
	0000000000000000000001100000000000000000000000000000000000110000
	0000000000000000000000000000000110000000000000000000000000000000
	0000110000000000000000000000000000000000011000000000000000000000
	0000000000000011000000000000000000000000000000000001111111111111
	1111111111111111111111111000000000000000011111000000000000000000
	0000000000111100000111100000000000000000000001100000000000001100
	0000000000000000110000000000000000011000000000000000100000000000
	0000000000100000000000001100000000000000000000001000000000001000
	0000000000000000000100100000000010000100000000000000000000001000
	0000100000000000000000000001000000100000010000001000000000000000
	0000000100000100000000000000000000001000000001000010000000001000
	0000000000000000001000100000000000000000000010000000000010010000
	0000000010000000000000000000010010000000000000000000100000000000
	0010010000000000000100000000000000000001010000000000000000000100
	0000000000000110000000000000000100000000000000000011000000000000
	0000011111111111111111111000000000000000000000000000000000001100
	0000000000000000000000000000000001010000000000000000000000000000
	0000010010000000000000000000000000000000001001000000000000000000
	0000000000000001001000000000000000000000000000000000100010000000
	0000000000000000000000001000010000000000000000000000000000000100
	0001000000000000000000000000000001000000100000000000000000000000
	0000001000000010000000000000000000000000001000000000100000000000
	0000000000000010000000000010000000000000000000000010000000000000
	1000000000000000000000100000000000000011000000000000000001100000
	0000000000000110000000000000110000000000000000000000111100000111
	1000000000000000000000000000011111000000000000000011111111111111
	1111111111111111111111111000000000000000000000000000000001111001
	1000000000000000000000000000000111010000000000000000000000000001
	1000011000000110000000000000000000000000101100100000000000000000
	0000011000000001100000000001100000000000000000000100110001000000
	0000000000011000000000000110000000000000111000000000000000100011
	0000100000000000011001000000000000011000000000000100000110000000
	0001000011000001000000011000000010000000000001100000000000100000
	0000011000001000001100000010011000000000000100000000000110000000
	0001000000000000000111000000110000000100000000000000001000000000
	0110000000001000000000000000001000000011000000001000000000000000
	0100000000011000000001000000000000000001000000001100000000010000
	0000000000001000000001100000001000000000000000001000000000110000
	0000001000000000000000010000000110000001110000000000000001000000
	0000110000000000010000000000001100100000011000001000001100000000
	0010000000000011000000000000100000001100000001000001100001000000
	0000110000010000000000001100000000000001001100000000000010000110
	0010000000000000001110000000000000110000000000001100000000000000
	0001000110010000000000000000000011000000000011000000001100000000
	0000000000000010011010000000000000000000000000110000001100001100
	0000000000000000000000000101110000000000000000000000000000001100
	1111000000000000000000000000000000001111111111111111111111111111
	1111111111110000100100000000000000000101111111100100000010010000
	0000000000011010010011010010011000000000000011000000000000000110
	1100001001000011110000101000001000000000000010000001110000001001
	0000000010010000101110100001000010000000110000000100001000010010
	0100001001000000000000000011111110000000001000001011000000011000
	1000000111000000000000000000000000001011100000110000000000000100
	0001000000100000011100100000000000000000000110011111000011000010
	0101001101000101100011000111111101001111111110000001000010111010
	0000000110010000110000010110001000010010010000000000001100101100
	0110010011000100000000000001000010000000100000001000000010011010
	0101100100000001000000010000001000001100101001100011110000100100
	0010010010000000000000110000000000000010100010110000100100010000
	0000000010000000000011101110001000000000010010001010000010000000
	0000010010010000000010011101110000000010000001001001001000011111
	1111000000100001001001001001000001000000000000000000000000000010
	0000000000000100110100000100100100100100000100000000000000000010
	0100100100100000100100110010010000011011010010010000011000000000
	0000000010110110010010000110010110000000000001101001101001100001
	1100000000000000000000000000000000000000000100100100100100100100
	1100000001111000000000000000000101101100100100100100110010010010
	0110100110110000000110000000000000000000010010010010110110010011
	1011010011011010011011000000011000000111101101111111111111111101
	0000000011011111101101111111111111110010110110010110110011111111
	1111100111111111111111001001111011011110000111101011111011111111
	1111101111110001111110110111111110110111101000101111011110111111
	1001111111011110111101101101111011011111111111111110000000111111
	1110111110100111111100111011111100011111111111111111111111111010
	0011111001111111111111011111011111101111110001101111111111111111
	1111001100000111100111101101011001011101001110011100000001011000
	0000001111110111101000101111111100110111100111110100111011110110
	1101111111111110011010011100110110011101111111111111011110111111
	1011111110111111101100101101001101111111011111110111111011111001
	1010110011100001111011011110110110111111111111100111111111111110
	1011101001111011011101111111111110111111111110001000111011111111
	1101101110101111101111111111110110110111111110110001000111111110
	1111110110110110111100000000011111101111011011011011011111011111
	1111111111111111111111111111111111111101100101111101101101101101
	1111011111111111111111101101101101101111101101100110110111110010
	0101101101111100111111111111111110100100110110111100110100111111
	1111110010110010110011110001111111111111111111111111111111111111
	1111011011011011011011011001111111000011111111111111111101001001
	1011011011011001101101101100101100100111111100111111111111111111
	1101101101101001001101100010010110010010110010011111110011111
342.21st interpretation from down underOCKER::GIFFORDStan Gifford - Sydney Australia C.S.CFri Jun 13 1986 04:0365
    Jees, I didn't think I would be the first with a translation!
    I have a partial translation, which should be a couple of pages
    down, so 'next response' please if you don't want your fun spoilt.
    
    n.b I find this sort of thing great fun!!!!! :-)
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Ok.
    
    There appears to me to be at least 3 seperate sections to the message.
    I believe I have fully decoded the first section, I have a theory
    about the second, and I havn't a clue about the third. :-}
    
    The first section appears to be 3 matrixes of 37 * 37 pixels.
    
    If these three matrixes are plotted using regis, there are three
    pictures.
    
    Picture 1. Is just an empty box - interpretation Framing?
    Picture 2. Is a circle with three radius's 3'oclock, 1'oclock and
    		11 o'clock. Possibly some representation of the planet,
    		or 'ala sagen' (and I just thought of this), an indication
    		of the planets location from three pulsars? (the planet
    		or in fact their system is represented by the centre
    		of the circle.
    Picture 3. an attempt to provide 3d imagery of the orbit of their
    		planet looping around the 2 stars. This could in fact
   		indicate that the planets inhabitents are in fact 
    		bi-nocular creatures.
    
    The second section appears to be 27 bits with bits 1,6,9,27 set
    on. I can't be sure but I think that it represents a sequence that
    is the key to decoding the third section.
    
    Like I say I still havn't decoded the third section....
342.3Other viewsHUMAN::BURROWSJim BurrowsThu Jun 19 1986 03:174
        A slightly different interpretation appears in note 92.3 of
        DSSDEV::PHILOSOPHY. 
        
        JimB.
342.4A hint?HERMES::LOWEChris LoweThu Jun 19 1986 19:0319
Well, I think that I have a hint here.

Hint follows form feed.


What's to say that an alien intellegence reads left to right as we do?
More after the form feed
<
I tried up and down, and right to left with no success.  But I found some 
very interesting pictures develop if I went back and forth.
Try reversing every even line.  
more

I see a series of numbers
I also see a lizard like creature with a tail and a height measurement.


				Enjoy,   Chris

342.5REGENT::POWERSWed Feb 04 1987 20:1318
There hasn't been any action on this puzzle/game since right after its
posting, but it has sat  in my in basket biding its time since then.
The following reply is a sixel representation of the data.
The data has 6845 bits.  The prime factors of 6845 are 5, 37, and 37,
so it didn't take too many guesses to come up with five 37 by 37 frames.
The decoding is standard left to right, but the symmetry of the top three
frames does not require such.  The bottom two frames could perhaps
benefit from sinuous decoding, as was noted earlier.
Note that the bottom two are dot for dot complements of each other
(as far as I can tell).  Is that another hint?

Anybody still thinking about it?

- tom powers]

PS: The sixel file is formatted to output ten pixels per dot
both horizontally and vertically - it's zoomed up nicely for LN03
or LPS40 output.
342.7from PHILOSOPHYCACHE::MARSHALLhunting the snarkWed Feb 04 1987 21:09239
    RE .5 & .6:
    
    I appreciate the work you did making a sixel file and all, but
    you really do have to assemble the pictures by going back-and-forth.
    Also, the two frames at the end are not exact negatives, there is
    an "error" bit.
    
    I've included below some of the work that was done on this problem
    in the old PHILOSOPHY conference.                                   
                                                   
                  /
                 (  ___
                  ) ///
                 /
    
            <<< DSSDEV::PUBLIC$:[NOTES$LIBRARY]PHILOSOPHY.NOTE;1 >>>
                       -< What is the meaning of life? >-
================================================================================
Note 92.5                  Cosmogram: An experiment                       5 of 5
BEING::POSTPISCHIL "Always mount a scratch monkey." 218 lines  19-JUN-1986 17:19
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Here is some more information about the message.  Thanks to
    JETSAM::Andrade for finding the positive/negative aspect of the
    fourth and fifth parts, and thanks to Chris Lowe for the
    boustrophedonic reading.
    
    The first part is an empty box.  This represents communication,
    success, life, everything, nothing, Zen, math, the enormity of the
    universe, and the smallness of our view upon it (because of the frame). 

    The second part shows a segment of a circle which is 1/2pi of the
    circle (or about as close as you can get on a 37 by 37 diagram). 

    The third part is a demonstration of Pythagorus' Theorem.  I don't
    think all three of these parts were necessary.  Anybody receiving
    the messages already knows about pi and Pythagorus' Theorem, and
    three parts is more than enough to establish that communication
    is occurring.

    The fourth and fifth parts are negatives of each other, except that the
    bit in row 25, column 22 (counting left-to-right and top-to-bottom from
    0 to 36).  I think it should be off in the fourth part and on in the
    fifth part. 

    More about the fourth and fifth parts are discussed in the next
    response.  The diagrams appear below. 


				-- edp

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 
O                                                                       O 
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O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 

                                O O O O O                                 
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O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O                                   O 
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        O                                                       O         
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                O O                                   O O                 
                    O O                           O O                     
                        O O O O           O O O O                         
                                O O O O O                                 

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 
O O O                                                                 O O 
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O                     O O                                         O     O 
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O                           O     O O                         O         O 
O                         O           O O                     O         O 
O                         O               O O               O           O 
O                       O                     O O           O           O 
O                       O                         O O     O             O 
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O                     O                                 O               O 
O                   O                                   O               O 
O                   O                                 O                 O 
O                 O                                   O                 O 
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O               O                                   O                   O 
O               O                                 O                     O 
O             O O O                               O                     O 
O             O     O O                         O                       O 
O           O           O O                     O                       O 
O           O               O O               O                         O 
O         O                     O O           O                         O 
O         O                         O O     O                           O 
O       O                               O O O                           O 
O       O                                   O O                         O 
O     O                                         O O                     O 
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O   O                                                   O O             O 
O   O                                                       O O         O 
O O                                                             O O     O 
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  O O O O O O O O   O                                   O     O         O 
  O             O     O                               O O   O     O     O 
                        O O                           O O     O     O   O 
      O O   O O         O     O         O O O O         O   O           O 
        O     O             O O O             O                           
        O     O         O   O O O   O         O         O               O 
        O     O         O     O     O         O         O               O 
                        O O O O O O O                   O           O   O 
                            O O O             O       O O               O 
                        O   O O O           O O                           
                      O     O O O             O             O           O 
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        O O O         O O     O   O O     O   O O                         
                                                                          
      O O O O               O O     O     O     O     O     O     O     O 
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                              O     O     O     O   O O   O O     O     O 
          O O               O O   O O     O   O O   O O     O   O O   O O 

  O O O O   O O   O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O   O                 O 
  O O   O O   O     O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O   O O   O O O O O O   O 
  O   O O   O O     O O O O O O O O O O O O O     O O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O O O O   O   O O O O         O O O O   O O   O O O O     O     O O O 
O O O O O O O O O O O O O   O O O O O O       O O O O O O   O O   O O O O 
  O O O O O O O   O O O O   O O O O   O       O   O O O O   O O   O O O O 
  O O O O O O O   O O O O   O O O O   O O   O O   O O O O   O O   O O O O 
  O   O O O O O   O O O O O O O O O               O O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O O O O O O     O O O   O O O O O O       O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 
O O O O O O O O O O O O O     O O O O O       O   O O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O O O O   O O O O O O   O O O O O O       O O   O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O   O   O O   O O O O     O O O O           O O     O O O O O O O O O 
  O   O O O   O     O O O     O O O               O   O O                 
  O O O O   O O     O O O O O O O O   O       O   O O O O   O O O O O O   
  O O O O O   O     O O O   O O O O   O O   O O   O O O O O O O O O O O O 
O O O O O O O O O O O O O   O O O     O O   O O     O O O     O   O O     
  O O O O   O O O O O O O   O O O O O O O   O O O O O O O   O O     O   O 
  O O O O O   O O O O O O   O O O O O O O   O O O O O O O   O O     O   O 
  O O   O   O O     O O O         O O O O   O O   O O O O   O O   O O   O 
  O   O O O   O   O O O O O O O O O O O O O O     O O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O O O   O O   O O O   O O O O O O O O O O O O   O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O O O O   O   O O O   O O   O O O O O O O O O O   O O O       O       
O O O O O O O O O O O O   O O   O O   O O O O O O O O   O O       O       
                O O O O   O O   O O   O O   O O O O O O   O O O O O O O O      
  O O O O O O   O O O O   O O   O O   O O   O O   O O O O O   O O O O O O 
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O     O   O O O O O   O O   O O   O O   O O   O O O O O   O O O O O O 
  O O   O O   O O O O O   O O   O O   O O   O O   O O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O   O O   O O O O O     O     O   O O   O O   O O O O O     O O O O O 
    O   O O     O O O O   O O   O O     O     O   O O O O O O O O O O O O 
O O O O O O O O O O O O     O   O O     O   O O     O O O O       O O O O 
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O   O O   O O   O O   O O   O O   O O     O O O O O O O         O O O 
  O O   O O   O O   O O   O O     O     O   O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 
  O O   O O   O O   O O     O   O O     O     O O O O O O O     O O O O O 
  O O   O O     O     O   O O   O O   O O   O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 
    O     O   O O     O     O   O O     O     O O O O O O O     O O O O O 
342.8corrected sixel fileREGENT::POWERSFri Feb 06 1987 15:0444
I didn't realize that the discussion had been taken elsewhere.
Anyway, the rest of this reply is a corrected sixel file, a bit easier
to view than eric's Os and spaces version.
Note that because there are an odd number of scans in each "frame"
alternate frames are reversed, most noticeably the fourth and fifth.

- tom powers]

sixel file follows form feed.....

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A~^n~jU~Mm~~~_nnn|{~~_~^K|~~~`|~`r~`|-
c!04vutf{~~~_~~`~~b~~f~~n}|zv~hxx~xxx-
ov~o}~ov!04~_j~_z~_f~_v~_n!04~ijn!04~-
?N^?N^?V^?F^?J^?\^?H^?I!07^II]]^^^-
-
\
342.9BEING::POSTPISCHILAlways mount a scratch monkey.Sun Feb 15 1987 18:38330
              <<< DSSDEV::PUBLIC$:[NOTES$LIBRARY]OLD_PHILOSOPHY.NOTE;1 >>>
                       -< What is the meaning of life? >-
================================================================================
Note 92.7                   Cosmogram: An experiment                     7 of 22
BEING::POSTPISCHIL "Always mount a scratch monkey."  15 lines  26-JUN-1986 09:06
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    More stuff follows.
    
    On the top left, we have "8 8" for an oxygen molecule.  Below that
    there is "8 6 8" for carbon dioxide.  This would seem to confirm
    that the arrow-like things are arrows, and the creature takes in
    and expels oxygen and carbon dioxide, although we cannot yet be
    positive of which is which.  The "11" to the right of the creature
    would represent sodium if it were interpreted the way the other
    numbers have been, but that describes an atom, not a molecule. 
    Judging by the "framing box", it is more likely a measurement.
    Perhaps the numbers to the right of it attempt to convey the units
    of measurement.  Is anybody else working on the problem?
    
    
    				-- edp
================================================================================
Note 92.8                   Cosmogram: An experiment                     8 of 22
BEING::POSTPISCHIL "Always mount a scratch monkey."  28 lines  27-JUN-1986 16:08
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    More stuff follows.
    
    The message is a hoax.  Observe that in sending 54,760 pulses,
    apparently only 109 were in error, a rate of less than 1/502.  Let's
    designate this number with p, and 1-p with q.  The message consisted of
    eight repetitions of 6845 bits.  The effects of interference may be
    expected to be random and independent of message content or bit
    position within the message, so we would expect a binomial distribution
    for the number of errors occurring in a given number of bits.  In 6845
    groups of bits each repeated eight times, the number of one-bit errors
    should average 6845 (8 1) p^1 q^7, where (m n) denotes the number of
    ways to select n objects out of m.  This is about 108.  We got 79.
    
    The number of two-bit errors would average (6845) (8 2) p^2 q^6,
    which is about .75.  We got 12.
    
    The number of three-bit errors should average (6845) (8 3) p^3 q^5,
    which is about .003.  We got 2.
    
    I haven't analyzed the probability of getting something like the
    distribution of errors we got, but I can tell you it is EXTREMELY
    unlikely.  (79 and 108 are separated by three standard deviations.)  It
    is virtually certain the errors were artificially created and are not
    the result of natural interference.  From this, we can conclude the
    message is a hoax that originates on Earth and not in space. 
    
    
    				-- edp
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Note 92.9                   Cosmogram: An experiment                     9 of 22
HUMAN::BURROWS "Jim Burrows"                         14 lines  29-JUN-1986 23:48
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	But are the assumptions valid?

        At the very least your model fails to take into account the fact
        that the lost 1s and lost 0s must have different causes. Also,
        the message was transmitted over a very long period of time, on
        the order of magnitude of the rotation of a planet. Some of the
        sources of error near the transmitter and the receiver are quite
        likely to vary over time. It is certainly possible, therefore,
        that error rate is not independent of position within the
        message. 
        
        Then again, it was a thought experiment.
        
        JimB.
================================================================================
Note 92.10                  Cosmogram: An experiment                    10 of 22
BEING::POSTPISCHIL "Always mount a scratch monkey."  34 lines  30-JUN-1986 10:56
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    Re .9:
    
    Is it a hoax?
    
    Each repetition took 1:53:10.25, so there is no correspondence I
    know of between the Earth's positions at the erroneous bits.  In
    fact, the entire message took 16 hours, so the receiving must have
    been done from more than one station, if it were done on Earth. 
    This would completely eliminate the possibility of corresponding
    receiving errors in the bits.  If the receiving were done off Earth,
    the correspondence is still unlikely.
    
    I suppose there is a possibility that 1:53:10.25 corresponds to
    some periodic time involving the senders of the message which could
    have caused errors in the.  But that's unlikely unless it was done
    deliberately, and intelligent beings would deliberately avoid such
    a correspondence specifically to avoid the possibility of creating
    errors in the same bits of the repetitions, which would detract
    from the usefulness of repeating the message.
    
    Your assertion that my model fails to take into account different
    causes for false 1 and false 0 errors is not true.  I showed there is a
    regularity in the errors (a regularity caused by random chance in
    less than one case in billions), and the regularity seems to have no
    explanation other than artificial generation.  The regularity exists
    and needs to be explained whether the causes for the different types of
    errors are the same or different. 
    
    All-in-all, I don't lend much credence to the idea that the pattern
    of errors is a natural effect; I think the message was generated
    on Earth.
    
    
    				-- edp
================================================================================
Note 92.15                  Cosmogram: An experiment                    15 of 22
CACHE::MARSHALL "beware the fractal dragon"          82 lines  20-AUG-1986 12:07
                         -< anyone still interested? >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    since things seemed to have cooled down quite a bit here (PHILOSOPHY
    in general), I'm going to try to revive this note. This puzzle has 
    been 95% decoded, let's try to get the last 5%.

		sm

p.s. what follows is a re-presentation of the final picture with all the 
	"known" features pointed out.


I've "framed" the message in a box:   +===+        
                                      !   !        
                                      +===+                       

I've replaced some of the "0"s with spaces for partitioning.          

Other "0"s I replaced with a "." for grouping.                                 

I've substituted symbols for the "1"s to add clarity.

for binary numbers, I use "]" for the formatting and "@" for an "on" bit
such that: 
               original   ==>   rewritten

                    O               ]  <- 8  \
                   OO     --\      @]  <- 4   \ = 5
                    O     --/       ]  <- 2   /
                   OO              @]  <- 1  /    
                    
The framing marks for molecules are replaced with "#"s
                                                     
For the "arrows" I substituted "/" on the diagonal and "|_" for the arrowhead
                                                                         
For the "dimension lines" I used "|" and "+" and "-"

The representation of the alien I left as "O"s   

The "?" indicates the bit that is not inverted in the fifth pictogram

I've placed comments around the message corresponding to the nearest "group"


             +=====================================+                 
             ! ######## \                .]..O....O!  BINARY 6 
   8  8      ! #......#  \               @].O..O..O!  6 'ONES'   
             ! ........   \_             @]..O..O.O!  EDGE 4   
   /O \      ! ..@].@].   |  O    ---+   .].O.....O!  carbon?  
   \ 2/      ! ...]..].     OOO      |             !           
             ! ...]..].   O OOO O    |   .].......O!  BINARY 1 
comes out?   ! ...]..].   O  O  O    |   .].......O!  1 'ONES'   
             !            OOOOOOO        .].....O.O!  EDGE 4   
             !              OOO      ]   @].......O!  hydrogen?
             !            / OOO     @]             !           
             !           /  OOO     .]   ...O.....O!  BINARY 7 
             !         _/  OOOOO    @]   .]..O.O..O!  7 'ONES'   
             !########  | OOOOOOO   @]   @].O...O.O!  EDGE 5   
8  6  8      !#......#    O OOO O        @]..O....O!  nitrogen?         
             !........    O  O  O    |   @].O.....O!           
/CO \        !O]..].@]   OO  O  OO   |             !           
\  2/        !.].@]..]       O       |   ....O....O!  BINARY 8 
             !.].@]..]       O       |   ...O.....O!  8 'ONES'   
goes in?     !.]..]..]    _  O    ---+   @]..O.O..O!  EDGE 6   
             !            /|             .].O...O.O!  oxygen?         
             !........   /............O  .]..O....O!           
       ??--> !OOO.OOO.  /..........O..O  .].O.....O!           
             !OOO.OOO. / .......O..O..O            !                     
             !......../  ....O..O..O..O    ########!                      
reproduction?!......O.   .O..O..O..O..O    #......#!  1  8  1             
             !........              ?      ........!                      
excretion?   !......O.   .]..]..]..]..]    .].@]..]!   /H O\              
             !........   .]..]..]..]..]    .]..]..]!   \ 2 /              
purpose of   !.....OO.   .]..]..].@].@]    .]..]..]!                      
    tail?    !........   .].@].@]..]..]    @]..].@]!                      
             !....OOO.   @]..].@]..].@]            !<-- A counting lesson  
growth       !........                             !                     
 pattern of  !...OOOO.   .. @] .] .] .] .] .] .] .]!                     
  tail,      !........   .. .] @] @] .] .] .] .] .]!                     
 indicating  !.....OO.   .. @] @] .] @] .] .] .] .]!the Fibonacci sequence
  age?       !........   .. .] .] .] .] @] @] .] .]!                          
             !.....OO.   .. @] @] .] @] @] .] @] @]!maybe indicating that they
             +=====================================+"read" from right to left?
                            21 13  8  5  3  2  1  1                  
================================================================================
Note 92.16                  Cosmogram: An experiment                    16 of 22
BEING::POSTPISCHIL "Always mount a scratch monkey."  25 lines  20-AUG-1986 17:07
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Re .15:
    
    Got it!  (The upper-right corner.)
    
    .]..O....O!  BINARY 6 
    @].O..O..O!  6 'ONES'   
    @]..O..O.O!  EDGE 4   
    .].O.....O!  carbon?  
    
    I hadn't noticed the binary six described the number of bits on in the
    pattern to the right -- good work.  You are right, this picture
    describes carbon, and the others are also descriptions of atoms.
    Each bit in the picture represents an electron in an atom.  The
    two electrons (or only one for hydrogen) to the right are the electrons
    in the first shell.  They have opposite spin, so they are shown
    in different columns.  The left bits are the electrons in the second
    shell, which can hold up to six electrons.  The electrons are shown
    in alternating columns, reflecting the alternating spins of electrons
    added to an atom.  (Are the other quantum numbers, besides spin,
    depicted?  Anybody remember their chemistry?)
    
    That leaves us only the bottom-left.  Ideas?
    
    
    				-- edp
================================================================================
Note 92.17                  Cosmogram: An experiment                    17 of 22
BEING::POSTPISCHIL "Always mount a scratch monkey."  18 lines  20-AUG-1986 17:21
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    More about the upper-right corner.
    
    Before I dismiss the corner as solved, we should consider whether
    carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen were selected for any particular
    reason.  Here are some theories:
    
    They are sort of a glossary; 6, 8, and 1 are used in other places
    in the cosmogram, so these descriptions of 6, 8, and 1 define those
    numbers as atoms.  Problem:  We haven't found a 7 yet.  Is there
    a 7 in the cosmogram?
    
    They were more or less randomly selected, e.g., they are just elements
    common in organic chemistry.
    
    Is there a CHNO molecule?
                             
    
    				-- edp
================================================================================
Note 92.18                  Cosmogram: An experiment                    18 of 22
CGHUB::CONNELLY "Eye Dr3 - Regnad Kcin"              10 lines  20-AUG-1986 22:14
                                    -< AA >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

re: .17

    
>    They were more or less randomly selected, e.g., they are just elements
>    common in organic chemistry.
>    
>    Is there a CHNO molecule?

C, H, N & O are present in all amino acids, right?  Amino acids are building
blocks for proteins?
================================================================================
Note 92.19                  Cosmogram: An experiment                    19 of 22
CACHE::MARSHALL "beware the fractal dragon"          20 lines  21-AUG-1986 09:12
                          -< just thinking out loud >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

re -.1: Good work! my thought exactly, don't know why I didn't put
        on my annotated diagram.
    
    sm

    remaining mysteries:
    
    1) the "length" dimension 
    
    	Apparently a length of 11, but in what units?
    
    2) the lower-left corner (which may be two "groups":
    					a) the block of six "one's"
    					b) the descending sequence)
    
    2.1) why is there an "arrow" pointing to the "tail" 
    
    3) the "error" bit. is it really an error? 
    
    4) the left side: which gas "goes in", and which "comes out"?
================================================================================
Note 92.20                  Cosmogram: An experiment                    20 of 22
ERIS::CALLAS "Jon Callas"                             5 lines  21-AUG-1986 11:09
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Don't assume the arrow is an arrow. That's an awfully ethnocentric
    thing. However, it may be precisely that, and if it is, it tells
    us a lot about them.
    
    	Jon
================================================================================
Note 92.22                  Cosmogram: An experiment                    22 of 22
ERIS::CALLAS "Jon Callas"                            19 lines  21-AUG-1986 13:23
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    re respiration and arrows:
    
    Let's assume that they breathe the way we do. O2 in, CO2 out. Then
    what we've assumed before was the tail of the arrow is really its
    head. It's entirely possible that unlike us, who prefer arrows,
    spears and the like, they use forked sticks. This makes sense to
    me, but hey, I'm not a lizard.
    
    It also seems to make sense that they're telling us that they're 11
    units long. My guess for what the units are is that they're units of
    21cm. That makes them 231 cm from head to tail, about the size of an
    alligator or a small Komodo Dragon. 

    I'm bothered by the fact that the counting lesson we got was left-to
    right and the fibonacci numbers were right-to-left, but hell, people
    who use boustrophedon rasters are capable of any crazed thing. I must
    just be paranoid. 

	Jon
342.10Finishing OffPROSE::WAJENBERGMon Feb 16 1987 12:1222
    Here is an interpretation of the pattern in the lower left (or lower
    right, depending on how you reconstruct the picture) corner of the
    image.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

From:	TLE::NOYCE        "Bill Noyce 381-2050"  2-FEB-1987 08:48
To:	HUMAN::BURROWS,NOYCE       
Subj:	Well, I figured out the bottom-right corner...

It's a picture of their solar system.  The arrow seems to indicate they
live on the innermost planet.  It's interesting that the suns seem to be
elongated by their small separation...

I've been puzzling over the picture all week, and it just came to me as
I was shoveling out our mailbox yesterday.  I was thinking, "what else
did we include in the pictures we've sent?"  I thought of DNA, the hydrogen
spin-flip as a measurement base, a picture of the antenna, and then "where
we live" -- planets & location relative to pulsars.  The sequence
1,1,2,3,4,2,2 of sizes seemed reasonable, and the two big blocks would
make sense if their sun was a binary (which I couldn't remember).
	-- Bill