European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 6, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Tkv. I. We of constantly bombarded by signals my quasars and pulsars and other stars Devicenzi says. These Ara signals a Are familiar Wilh we recognize them to have certain characteristics certain Power Levels whether they arc pulsed and what the frequency of thai pulse is. So anytime you get a signal that is unknown you would run it through a series of checks which is nol going to be a trivial exercise. That Way you can a least identify thai the signal is unique. So now it s either some previously unknown natural or physical phenomenon or it s an artificially produced signal from intelligent beings. It boils Down to a process of convincing yourself beyond doubt thai the signal you have is not due to some known or even some unknown physical process he says. How would the signal to interpreted i think there s probably a wealth of data right now on interpreting you know decoding things Devincenzi says. The general methods that one applies to decode a message contrived on this planet. There s a whole series at Basic routines Hal you would put signals through looking for and Lalion of the signal looking for Breaks that might indicate words or sentences or Oliver believes an intelligent race might communicate wit h Pic t ures. Obviously Send a picture it you do in right he says eyes Are ubiquitous eyesight is such a valuable sense assuming they have eyes. Structure a radio signal to draw a picture like the information relayed by the signal might be outdated by the time in reaches Earth having taken hundreds perhaps thousands of years to reach Here. Nevertheless Seti scientists contend it would be extraordinarily valuable not Only in revealing another intelligent culture but in might be a galactic encyclopedia of scientific medical or other knowledge the collected Wisdom of another civilization or a warning of things to come from a dying planet what would be the Impact in a signal were received everyone has his own perspective on this Devincenzi says. But Tor me in would be the singular outstanding scientific discovery of All Lime. If i Sil Down and to Fink Inhat is he most fundamentally Imp land question that i can ask it is How did we get hero How did life originate and Are there other Lorms of life like us Devincenzi is not so certain Earth need reply considering it would be responding loan Ages old signal with a message lha May take hundreds or thousands of years to reach the newly found aliens. The discovery itself would be momentous enough he says that proves that extra terrestrial life exists Pai \ 4vi Bernard m. Oliver chief of the search for Intel trance Seti office to Nasa a Ames research Center. Lar Oudra a by Mafi it Joelo Day june6,1987 the stars and stripes Page 15
