Brainstorms: Complex information in Sagan's Cosmos

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Topic: Complex information in Sagan's Cosmos

Clyde Stauffer
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Member # 1959

posted 22. April 2006 11:49

While reading Dr. Dembski's critique of the SETI message received in the movie Cosmos a question crossed my mind. The interpretation of the signal rested on an assumption that the "intelligent sender" was using the decimal arithmetic system. What would such a signal look like in another system, say binary or heximal (6-based) arithmetic?
IOW, what are the prime numbers in the binary system? Would they be recognized by the SETI listeners?

Clyde Stauffer

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Zachriel
Member
Member # 1793

posted 23. April 2006 12:21

quote:
Clyde Stauffer: Would they be recognized by the SETI listeners?

Prime numbers are prime in any base, and if I remember were transmitted as pulses then converted to decimal.

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Non-fictional SETI does not attempt to detect abstraction, but artifice. The entire project is geared to detect narrow-band radio transmissions — simplicity not complexity.

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