To Serve Man

[Alaskan]

Make sure they read up on how To Serve Man:

A powerful laser 'porch light' could let aliens know where we are

An MIT researcher claims a laser space beacon detectable up to 20,000 light years away is feasible -- essentially acting as a porch light for extraterrestrial life. James Clark's study posits that focusing a one- to two-megawatt laser through a 30- to 45-meter telescope and aiming it into space...

www.engadget.com

"To Serve Man" is episode 89 (#24 Season 3) of the anthology series The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi,
I remember that movie from the twilight zone in the 60's I think. Then there was soilent green also . yummy......
Rich

 

[icecruncher]

My wife's favorite Twilight Zone. But if you really want to think about it....explain to a young person what a water treatment plant does... and that there Is only so much water on the planet so..... .

And one step further....almost every atom and molecule on earth is still here and used in another way from what it was a few thousand years ago.... We are all just basically recycled stuff.

 

[Snecho]

And one step further....almost every atom and molecule on earth is still here and used in another way from what it was a few thousand years ago.... We are all just basically recycled stuff.

Yes, there's no way to destroy matter...supposedly.

Technically at one point, your body had the same water in it that George Washington had.

 

[CurtisOliver]

Can’t ‘destroy’ matter but you can convert it back into light. Light and matter are interchangeable.
Not so sure if sending a beacon into space is a good idea or not.

 

[Ears and Eggs]

I think a space beacon would be a cool idea. Would be a really cool project and would hopefully aid in developing some technologies like very powerfully lasers and focusing equipment that could be used to power a light sail craft some day. I think people hoping to hear from ET are going to be disappointed though, any aliens are probable way to far to communicate with in one lifetime. If there was an intelligent civilization as close as TRAPPIST-1, ie two civilizations, us and them, within 40 light years, then statistically there should be thousands and thousands across the galaxy, which just doesn't seem to be the case.

I think at absolute best you're looking at a handful per galaxy, possible way less. In that case you'd be looking at tens of thousands of years to hear a reply.

I think the risks are basically zero, I can't imagine we taste THAT good that it'd be worth a 10 thousand+ year journey across interstellar space to eat us, beat us up and take our planet, or abduct people and probe them. Unless they are capable of some kind of apparent or true Faster Than Light travel. In which case they should already have colonized the galaxy or be able to send probes out and have found us already.

 

[Snecho]

I think a space beacon would be a cool idea. Would be a really cool project and would hopefully aid in developing some technologies like very powerfully lasers and focusing equipment that could be used to power a light sail craft some day.

Two words: Space Elevators