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Space Virus
You all remember the movie “Virusâ€, Richard Carrigan, Jr has seen that movie once to many times and actively advocates caution that Seti might pick up “Space virus’s†that will cause untold damage.
Someone needs to tell him that we don’t need aliens to make new viruses for us, we’re doing fine on our own.
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Someone needs to tell him that we don’t need aliens to make new viruses for us, we’re doing fine on our own.
Keeping Watch for Interstellar Computer Viruses
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
11 November 2003
Microsoft may have to fork up big bounty bucks trying to unearth future hackers, particularly when they are light years away on distant worlds.
Add one more worry to the computerized world of the 21st century. Could a signal from the stars broadcast by an alien intelligence also carry harmful information, in the spirit of a computer virus? Could star folk launch a "disinformation" campaign -- one that covers up aspects of their culture? Perhaps they might even mask the "real" intent of dispatching a message to other civilizations scattered throughout the Cosmos.
These are concerns that deserve attention explains Richard Carrigan, Jr., a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Those engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), he contends, should think about decontaminating potential SETI signals.
The so-called "SETI Hacker" hypothesis, Carrigan argues, is an issue of interstellar discourse that should be taken seriously. We should exercise caution when handling SETI downloads, he said.
Altruistic, benign, or malevolent?
Carrigan notes that Earth's early radio ramblings have already traveled some fifty light years away. (A light year is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year, equal to 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers).
Turns out that on the order of 400 stars are within 50 light years of Earth. Any civilization out at that distance may have immediately responded and sent a signal back to Earth. "Such a signal could be useful or possibly very harmful to us," Carrigan suggested in a recent scientific paper presented at the 54th International Astronautical Congress, held September 29th - October 3 in Bremen, Germany.
A key question is whether or not a SETI signal might be altruistic, benign, or malevolent. "It would help to understand the motivation of a message before reading too much of it," Carrigan said. Like Odysseus of Greek Mythology, he added, "we may have to stuff wax in the ears of our programmers and strap the chief astronomer to the receiving tower before she is allowed to listen to the song of the siren star."
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
11 November 2003
Microsoft may have to fork up big bounty bucks trying to unearth future hackers, particularly when they are light years away on distant worlds.
Add one more worry to the computerized world of the 21st century. Could a signal from the stars broadcast by an alien intelligence also carry harmful information, in the spirit of a computer virus? Could star folk launch a "disinformation" campaign -- one that covers up aspects of their culture? Perhaps they might even mask the "real" intent of dispatching a message to other civilizations scattered throughout the Cosmos.
These are concerns that deserve attention explains Richard Carrigan, Jr., a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Those engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), he contends, should think about decontaminating potential SETI signals.
The so-called "SETI Hacker" hypothesis, Carrigan argues, is an issue of interstellar discourse that should be taken seriously. We should exercise caution when handling SETI downloads, he said.
Altruistic, benign, or malevolent?
Carrigan notes that Earth's early radio ramblings have already traveled some fifty light years away. (A light year is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year, equal to 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers).
Turns out that on the order of 400 stars are within 50 light years of Earth. Any civilization out at that distance may have immediately responded and sent a signal back to Earth. "Such a signal could be useful or possibly very harmful to us," Carrigan suggested in a recent scientific paper presented at the 54th International Astronautical Congress, held September 29th - October 3 in Bremen, Germany.
A key question is whether or not a SETI signal might be altruistic, benign, or malevolent. "It would help to understand the motivation of a message before reading too much of it," Carrigan said. Like Odysseus of Greek Mythology, he added, "we may have to stuff wax in the ears of our programmers and strap the chief astronomer to the receiving tower before she is allowed to listen to the song of the siren star."
Read The rest
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