Tag: Hard First Contact

Just For Fun: First Contact… Through the Power of Pop? A Ridiculously Fun Thought Experiment

Okay, folks, buckle up, because we’re about to dive headfirst into a thought experiment so wild, so speculative, and so thoroughly steeped in “what ifs” that it makes Close Encounters of the Third Kind look like a documentary. And yes, there’s a healthy dose of what I like to call “informed magical thinking” involved. This is purely for fun, so leave your skepticism at the door (but maybe keep your tinfoil hat handy, just in case).

The Premise: Aliens Love Our Music (and Maybe Our Memes?)

Imagine this: Voyager 1, that intrepid little spacecraft carrying humanity’s mixtape into the cosmos, actually gets an answer. But instead of a complex mathematical equation or a detailed diagram of their solar system, we get… Adele. Followed by the theme song from “3, 2, 1 Contact.” And then, because why not, John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

Yep, our first interstellar pen pals are apparently big fans of Western pop culture.

Now, before you start calculating the light-years to the nearest record store, let’s be clear: this is highly improbable. The chances of an alien civilization both intercepting our broadcasts and interpreting them as anything other than random noise are astronomically slim. But where’s the fun in being realistic?

The Scenario: A Cosmic Game of Charades

We (well, a very secretive team at NASA, because let’s face it, the government wouldn’t tell us about this for weeks, maybe months) decide to play along. Instead of sending back equations, we send back… more music! A carefully curated playlist designed to say, “Hello, we hear you, we’re friendly, and we’re also kind of awesome.” Think “Here Comes the Sun,” maybe a little “Across the Universe,” and definitely something to show we’re not just about the classics (Coldplay, anyone?).

But here’s where it gets really interesting. The aliens respond in kind. They send back more pop songs. It’s like a cosmic game of charades, played out across interstellar distances with Top 40 hits.

The Descent into Paranoia (Because, Humans):

Of course, this being humanity, things quickly get complicated. We overanalyze everything. A seemingly innocent Britney Spears song (“Oops!… I Did It Again”) is suddenly interpreted as evidence of prior alien contact. A Bob Dylan protest song is seen as a veiled threat. The entire musicology department at Harvard is probably locked in a bunker somewhere, arguing about the semiotics of 90s alternative rock.

And, because we’re talking about the U.S. government, there’s a strong undercurrent of “Are we showing them we’re strong enough?” Cue a playlist featuring “America the Beautiful” and, I kid you not, “We Are the Champions.” (Subtlety is not our strong suit, apparently).

The Aliens Get Sneaky (and Hilarious):

Our hypothetical aliens, blessed with both intelligence and a sense of humor, respond with a playlist designed to gently (or not-so-gently) poke fun at our nationalistic posturing. Think “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Is This It,” and the ultimate troll move: “We Are the World” (the irony!).

But Wait, There’s More! (The Magical Thinking Kicks into High Gear):

Then, things get really weird. The aliens send Pink Floyd’s The Wall, the entire film. Cue mass hysteria and a global shortage of therapists. But here’s the kicker: it’s not just a movie. It’s a Trojan Horse. The aliens, being ridiculously advanced, have somehow encoded their entire civilization (or their consciousnesses, or something) into the data stream of the video and uploaded themselves to the internet.

Yes, you read that right. The aliens are now chilling in our cat videos and comment sections.

The YouTube Takeover:

And because they’re apparently fans of personalized communication, they start messing with our YouTube algorithms, sending subtly curated playlists to “average” people. Imagine your grandma suddenly getting recommendations for obscure psychedelic rock and documentaries about ancient astronauts. It’s chaos, it’s hilarious, and it’s completely out of the government’s control.

The Point (Besides the Fun):

This whole ridiculous thought experiment, while fueled by copious amounts of caffeine and wishful thinking, actually touches on some important points about First Contact:

  • Communication is Hard: Even with a shared medium like music, misinterpretations are inevitable.
  • Context is Everything: Our own biases and assumptions will always color our interpretation of alien communication.
  • We Might Not Even Recognize It: First Contact might not look anything like we expect. It might be subtle, indirect, and even hidden in plain sight.
  • We are probably not the smartest things out there.
  • Humanity is Predictable: Let’s be honest, our response in this scenario is probably pretty accurate. We’d overthink, overreact, and probably try to weaponize the whole thing.

So, is this realistic? Absolutely not. Is it a fun way to explore the possibilities and challenges of communicating with an alien intelligence? Absolutely! And it’s a reminder that sometimes, the most interesting discoveries come from asking “what if?” and letting our imaginations run wild. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a sudden urge to listen to “We Are the World”… and check my YouTube recommendations. Just in case.

Bass, Treble, and Beatles: How an Alien ASI Might Use Pop Culture for First Contact

In the vast emptiness of space, what if our first contact with extraterrestrial intelligence came not through mathematical formulas or binary code, but through the familiar beats of Earth’s pop culture? This thought experiment explores how an alien Advanced Superintelligence (ASI) might leverage our broadcast history to establish meaningful communication.

The First Hello: Simple and Hopeful

After years of monitoring our TV and radio signals, our hypothetical alien visitor makes its first move. Rather than complex mathematical sequences, it opts for something more universally human: music. The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” arrives at Earth’s radio telescopes—a simple, optimistic melody with minimal cultural references that could be misinterpreted.

The message is elegant in its simplicity: “I am approaching from the direction of your sun, and I come in peace.” No complex cultural baggage, just a gentle introduction.

NASA Responds

Under immense pressure, NASA scientists scramble to respond. After brief but intense deliberation, they transmit Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”—a song that showcases Earth’s natural beauty and human appreciation for it, with straightforward descriptive language that’s hard to misinterpret.

Establishing Identity Through Frequency

As communication continues, our alien friend develops an ingenious method to differentiate between itself and humanity: bass represents the alien civilization, while treble represents Earth.

This distinction is established through a series of clever transmissions:

  • The bass-heavy opening theme from Seinfeld, immediately followed by Madonna’s “Vogue” with its higher vocal ranges
  • The deep, ominous bass from Jaws, contrasted with the high-pitched strings from Psycho’s shower scene
  • Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” bass line, followed by clips of Mariah Carey’s highest notes
  • The distinctive bass drop from Daft Punk’s “One More Time,” paired with the chipmunk-like voices from Alvin and the Chipmunks

No mathematical formulas or abstract concepts needed—just culturally familiar sounds with natural frequency separations that any human would recognize. When the ASI wants to reference itself or its civilization, it uses bass-dominant clips; when discussing humanity, it uses treble-dominant ones.

Beyond Single Songs

As communication develops, the ASI begins combining elements. It might send the five-note sequence from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” followed by The Beatles’ “Across the Universe”—establishing both an original communication pattern and reflecting human culture back to us.

This combination effectively communicates: “I am here, I am intelligent, I understand your signals, and I come in peace.”

Why This Approach Might Work

Unlike traditional SETI approaches that focus on mathematical universals, this method leverages what makes us uniquely human: our cultural expressions. It acknowledges that communication isn’t just about information exchange but about establishing connection and context.

By using familiar cultural touchstones, the alien intelligence creates an emotional bridge—starting with hope (“Here Comes the Sun”), moving to mutual appreciation (“What a Wonderful World”), and ultimately establishing distinct identities through something as fundamental as sound frequencies.

This approach reminds us that first contact might not be about proving intelligence through prime numbers or hydrogen atom frequencies. Instead, it might be about demonstrating understanding of what makes us human: our music, stories, and creative expressions.

Perhaps, in the end, the universal language isn’t math after all—it’s culture.

First Contact: Would They Really Say it With a Song?

We’ve all seen the movies. Aliens arrive, and either start blasting (usually) or attempt to communicate in some grand, often incomprehensible, way. But what if First Contact were… subtler? Weirder? What if it hinged on the universal language of music, specifically, the often-cheesy, sometimes profound, world of pop song titles?

That’s the bizarre, yet strangely compelling, premise we’ve been exploring in a marathon conversation. The scenario: an Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), far beyond human comprehension, decides to make contact. But instead of booming pronouncements or complex mathematical equations, it chooses to communicate using the titles of songs broadcast on AM radio since World War II. Think of it as a cosmic game of charades, with the fate of humanity (potentially) hanging in the balance.

Why Song Titles? (The In-Universe Justification)

Our hypothetical ASI has several good reasons for this unconventional approach:

  • Ubiquitous Signals: Earth has been leaking radio waves into space for over a century. These signals, however faint, are a readily available resource for an observing intelligence.
  • Cultural Snapshot: Pop music, particularly AM radio hits, provides a surprisingly broad overview of human culture, values, and emotions (at least, a certain slice of human culture).
  • Low Bandwidth (Initially): Song titles are short and concise, ideal for long-distance communication with limited bandwidth.
  • Pattern Recognition: The repetitive nature of pop music, and the frequent use of titles within lyrics, creates recognizable patterns, even with signal degradation.
  • Safety: It is, at the very least, odd.

Bootstrapping Communication: From “Hello” to “May I…?”

The core of our discussion revolved around how to “bootstrap” communication from absolute ground zero, using only song titles. We quickly realized that even seemingly simple concepts are incredibly difficult to convey without a shared context.

Our ASI couldn’t just blurt out, “We come in peace!” using song titles. That message could be easily misinterpreted. Instead, we developed a gradual, iterative process:

  1. Establish Presence: Starting with a simple, universally recognizable greeting: “Hello” (Adele). This is repeated, establishing a basic “I am here” signal.
  2. Introduce Duality: Using song titles like “Here” and “There,” “Me” and “You,” to create a basic distinction between the two communicating entities. This is incredibly challenging, and we relied heavily on repetition and context.
  3. Bass and Treble: A key (and fun!) concept we explored was using modified audio. The ASI would drastically boost the bass in some songs to represent itself, and boost the treble in others to represent humanity. This creates a physical distinction, in addition to the symbolic meaning of the titles. Songs like “Let Me Think About It” (bass-boosted) and “Across the Universe” (treble-boosted) became key elements.
  4. Introducing Numbers: Gradually introducing numerical concepts using songs like “One” (Three Dog Night) and “Two of Us” (The Beatles), building a rudimentary mathematical vocabulary.
  5. The “Peace Preamble”: We decided that a 24-hour broadcast of peace-themed songs (like “Imagine,” “What a Wonderful World,” “Heal the World”) and full transmissions of the films 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind would be a crucial step to establish benevolent intent before attempting any complex communication. This is about setting the emotional tone.
  6. Requesting closer contact: Using carefully chosen titles, eventually getting to “Little Thing”, “Come Closer”, and “May I…?”

The Importance of “Out” (and Avoiding “A View to a Kill”):

We spent considerable time wrestling with the seemingly simple problem of how to say “end of message.” Early attempts, like using “The End” (The Beatles), were deemed too potentially ominous. We explored using spliced audio from movies like First Man (“Over”), but ultimately settled on short, unambiguous song titles like “Out,” “Stop,” or “Sign Off” as the most practical and least likely to be misinterpreted. This seemingly minor detail highlights the crucial importance of clarity and avoiding unintended connotations in First Contact communication.

From Song Titles to Video Clips:

We then expanded the scenario, imagining the ASI eventually moving to short video clips. This allowed for a much richer and more direct form of communication, but still leveraging human pop culture. A sequence of clips from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the “Earthrise” photo, a child reaching out, smiling faces, and a carefully chosen scene from Arrival was proposed as a way to visually convey the desire for peaceful contact.

The Many “Whys” of Contact:

We also delved into the motivations of the ASI, exploring a range of possibilities, from the whimsical (a desire to see The Rolling Stones live) to the existential (planetary rescue, preventing a technological Singularity, or even the dreaded von Neumann probe scenario). The ASI’s “why” would profoundly shape its communication strategy.

The Inherent Ambiguity (and Fun) of it All:

The most important lesson from our conversation is that First Contact communication, even in this highly simplified, fictional scenario, is incredibly difficult and fraught with potential for misunderstanding. There’s no perfect solution. Every choice of song title, every audio modification, every video clip carries a risk of misinterpretation.

And that’s precisely what makes it such a fascinating thought experiment! The inherent ambiguity forces us to think deeply about:

  • The Nature of Language: How do we create meaning from scratch?
  • Cultural Differences: How do we bridge the gap between vastly different cultures (and potentially, vastly different ways of thinking)?
  • The Limits of Communication: Even with the best intentions, can we ever truly understand another intelligence?
  • Humanity’s Hopes and Fears: Our speculations about First Contact reveal a great deal about our own anxieties and aspirations.

This entire conversation has been a delightful exercise in “magical thinking,” grounded in a (somewhat) realistic framework. It’s a reminder that the universe is full of possibilities, and that even the most seemingly absurd scenarios can lead to profound insights about ourselves and our place in the cosmos. And, hey, if aliens do show up, maybe they’ll appreciate our efforts to understand them through the power of rock and roll. We can only hope they have good taste in music. And if they don’t, we’ll have “Out” ready to go.

‘Hard First Contact’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Imagining what would happen if Hard First Contact happened is a good thought exercise because it gives us a chance to game out what might happen if Something Big happened in the conditions of the modern world.

For the purposes of this scenario, I’m going to assume that the aliens that contact us know everything about us, rather than be elusive God-like creatures as seen in the movie 2001.

As such, it seems as though if there was some sort of Hard First Contact that these well-versed aliens would probably want to talk to the UN first. Or maybe not, maybe they would want to talk to the leaders of the G20. But that’s besides the point.

The United States is so fucking divided at the moment that I fear not even something as momentous as Hard First Contact would do squat to unite it. After the shock wore off, the two sides would go back to their individual echo chambers to process the event.

The center-Left (of which I’m a part) would probably see Hard First Contact as an opportunity to unite the globe, solve issues like AI and global climate change and any number of other global issues. They would see Hard First Contact as an opportunity to take the human species collectively to the next level of human evolution.

MEANWHILE, the ding-dong MAGA people would freak the fuck out and want to nuke them or convert the aliens to Christianity. There would be some MAGA people who would see Hard First Contact as a chance to trade and as, such, make a lot of money.

But, in general, MAGA would probably turn its eyes to malignant ding-dong Trump to see what he thought about the issue. And, yet, as I mentioned, I suspect eventually, inevitably, MAGA evangelicals would grab a cross and a Bible and start to demand the opportunity to spread the Good Word to the galaxy.

Of course, there is also a chance that New Age potheads would start to begin to form some sort of dumb cult / religion around the aliens because they’re dumb and high.

Anyway, the point is — the United States is hyper divided and we’re fucked. It’s one of those things where it definitely seems as though 2024 – 2025 could see us going to the show.

A Theory Of The Case: Are We Experiencing ‘Soft First Contact?’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Something…strange…is going on. It seems as though my Tik-Tok feed is full of UFO sightings just as Congress is taking the UFOs seriously. It’s enough to make you wonder if Something Is up.

And what might be “up” is something akin to First Contact…but in a very gentle way, ambiguous way. The idea would be to bust our cherry in the softest way possible so by the time Hard First Contact is necessary, we won’t be so spooked and scared by it all.

But all of this is EXTREMELY speculative. And, most of all, it brings up the question of, “Why now?” I have no idea if it’s actually happening, much less have an answer for, “Why now?” But the case might be made that relative to the metrics of some sort of galactic civilization, we’re heading towards something akin to the Singularity and, as such, we are ready for some sort of First Contact.

But I still find all of this very dubious. I guess I want something a lot closer to Hard First Contact before I will give all the bullshit being seen about UFOs here or there any credience.