Other intelligence? Maybe. Flying saucers and little green men, no.

Their robots would be vastly superior to and much smaller than those we sent to Mars.

And even then, only their anthropologist would care enough to send them.

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SETI, would they communicate by radio? Or knowing the location of the listener, would they not use modulated very high frequency beams. Perhaps they would send their gamma ray bursts directly to their intended audience. We do see gamma ray bursts from many directions. They may all be natural.

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If we were to encounter other intelligence, what would we make of them and them of us?. Would we even recognize each other? If so would we be able to communicate? Would we even share similar concepts of nature?

Limited by the rate and span of their senses, each species beholds a Universe unlike that perceived by any other. Some examples:

When a tree falls it produces a wide spectrum of vibrations, some too low and some too high for the average human ear. If these are heard the interpretation depends upon the senses of the observer. Some of the vibrations may be felt but the tone of the sound will depend on the ear. Some may say the sound was deep and low, others might claim that it included a “swish” as leaves passed through the air. All will agree that there was a sound and wonder at those who called it a spectrum of vibrations.

The Sun set too is a spectrum of frequencies, from long radio to gamma rays. A honey bee will not see the deep red, only the blue and ultra violet. A bird will not see the ultra violet but the red and far red. A human is most aware of the yellow but sees the violet through red and would say that the sunset had beautiful color. What would an alien “see”. How would she (would there be he and she?) react to what they saw. Would they have an emotional response?

We see humming birds best when they hover. They do not collide. Their nervous system must react at a much higher speed than ours. It is likely that they see the dots racing across the television that we interpret as pictures. On the other hand, we only know of the continuos motion of a plant from time-laps photography. The same photography shows the TV screen as an over exposed white screen free of images. Yet the same photography will reveal the leaf of a plant following the light from the sun, something that we are totally unaware of without that technology.

How would our music, art, and TV programs be interpreted by other intelligence? Would their music be audible, their art visible? Would we have to wait for them to hover to see them or would it take time-laps photography?

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