Are we alone in the universe? That’s the never-answered question humans have been pondering over ever since we discovered the cosmos is vast. From the Roswell incident to many sitings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), aliens conspiracies are not a joke. People take this seriously. Do you? Whatever. New frontiers in efforts to reach out to extraterrestrials by scientists attempt to play chess with them. Like huh?
Related media: 15 Life And Business Lesson To Learn From CHESS
Playing Cosmic Chess
There are many active projects aimed at searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, or even lifeforms. However, there have also been attempts to also send messages across the galaxy to extraterrestrials. This has led to the establishment of the non-profit organization known as Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI).
In a recent attempt (message) dubbed the new Beacon in the Galaxy (BITG), SETI scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) plan to play chess with aliens. This message is an updated version of an existing one that was beamed across the galaxy in the hope of striking up a conversation with an alien civilization.
They plan on sending the rules for playing chess and hope an alien civilization, intelligent enough, would decode the message, and later start a game with us. However, they claim that this could take tens or hundreds of thousands of years before even making just a move, then send back another message which could also take forever and ever. Checkmate!
What’s Checkmate?
Jonathan Jiang, one of the co-authors at NASA’s JPL, says there was nothing wrong with previous attempts but we now have the technology to provide more details. The team suggests that aiming the message at a cluster of stars roughly between two and six parsecs from the center of the Milky Way would be their best shot at receiving a reply.
They even suggested the Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) located in Guizhou, China for their experiment. According to Jiang, there are no immediate plans to send this message just yet, but they hope their proposal will encourage global discussions about how we would eventually unveil ourselves to any galactic neighbors.
Alien: Let’s Also Send “Mawa’awam”
This could “provide insights into thought processes of logic, strategy, and planning” for any civilization waiting to receive us, says Phil Rosen, a retired engineer who is well-experienced in the energy industry, and co-author of the study. “Establishing such a common ground of understanding would facilitate more detailed communications.”
Rosen claims receiving a reply might be a logical next step to send the rules of chess and move to start a game. From the look of things, it seems some aliens are also trying to send us how to play “mawa’awam.” Do you know that game? If that didn’t make sense to you, how will chess make sense in an alien civilization hundreds of lightyears away? Just saying!
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Written by: Nana Kwadwo, Sun, Apr 10, 2022.