| 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
|
| 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....
|
| 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
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O
O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
|
| <<< 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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
================================================================================
Note 92.9 Cosmogram: An experiment 9 of 22
HUMAN::BURROWS "Jim Burrows" 14 lines 29-JUN-1986 23:48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
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Note 92.18 Cosmogram: An experiment 18 of 22
CGHUB::CONNELLY "Eye Dr3 - Regnad Kcin" 10 lines 20-AUG-1986 22:14
-< AA >-
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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?
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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 >-
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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"?
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Note 92.20 Cosmogram: An experiment 20 of 22
ERIS::CALLAS "Jon Callas" 5 lines 21-AUG-1986 11:09
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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
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Note 92.22 Cosmogram: An experiment 22 of 22
ERIS::CALLAS "Jon Callas" 19 lines 21-AUG-1986 13:23
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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
|
| 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
|