Attempts at communicating with alien species have been made since 1959, initially through listening for and sending radio transmission signals, much like Dr. Ellie Arroway’s attempts in the film Contact. But what makes us think that these potentially intelligent aliens would recognize our signals? If we discovered intelligent aliens, how would we communicate with them? We wouldn’t be able to use human speech, assuming they haven’t decoded any of our languages at the time of our encounter. Is there any universal method of communication?
As a mathematics major, one of my favorite aspects of Contact was the discovery of the mathematical-like alien writing in the extraterrestrial signals. After decoding, the researchers in the film discovered the writing was instructions to build what might have been a transportation device. The ability to decode an alien message would imply the existence of some logical system. Mathematics relies on symbols and logic – anyone, regardless of their native language, can learn the notation and make logical statements.
According to Plato, mathematics is independent of human language, thoughts, and practices. As in, mathematical theories are truths of the universe. Carl DeVito, an emeritus faculty in the department of mathematics at the University of Arizona suggests that mathematics might be understandable to alien civilizations. Assuming this alien species has a version of science, it would hard to imagine, according to DeVito, a science without calculus – the mathematics of motion. However, this assumes our alien friends have a quantitative study of their world and have some fundamental system of logic.
Images from top to bottom: scene from Contact, the decoded transportation device, mathematical symbols
Works Cited:
David, Leonard. “Talking to E.T.? Why Math May Be the Best Language.” Space.com, Space, 7 June 2017, www.space.com/37109-making-contact-aliens-language-math.html.
“Home.” SETI Institute, www.seti.org/.
Petricek, Tomas. “Would Aliens Understand Lambda Calculus?” ? - Tomas Petricek, 22 May 2018, tomasp.net/blog/2018/alien-lambda-calculus/.
Nation, J.B. How Aliens Do Math. www.math.hawaii.edu/~jb/four.pdf.
Wikipedia contributors. "Contact (1997 American film)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 4 Jun. 2021. Web. 5 Jun. 2021.
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