Jakarta, IndonesiaSentinel.com — Efforts to discover and communicate with extraterrestrial life have been ongoing for decades, with scientists employing various methods to reach out beyond our solar system. Among the latest proposals is the idea of sending nude images and illustrations of humans into space to capture the attention of potential alien life civilizations.
Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have suggested transmitting depictions of naked humans alongside other informative messages as part of a project known as “A Beacon in the Galaxy” (BITG).
The proposal, published in the open-access scientific repository Arxiv, aims to provide extraterrestrial beings with a clear understanding of human anatomy and our existence.
While the concept of sending nude images into space may seem unconventional, scientists argue that such illustrations could effectively convey information about our species to intelligent life forms that may be curious about what humans look like.
“A page containing two human figures could easily be considered one of the most important parts of the message,” the researchers wrote, according to Smithsonian Magazine. They added that a physical representation of humans would likely be “of paramount interest” to any extraterrestrial recipients.
This is not the first time scientists have included nude human images in messages intended for alien life. In 1972, the Pioneer 10 spacecraft was launched carrying a small gold plaque engraved with illustrations of a naked man and woman, along with depictions of Earth’s location within the galaxy and other informational symbols.
Although it’s unclear whether any extraterrestrial beings have received the Pioneer 10 message, the spacecraft sent its last signal in January 2003 when it was approximately 7.6 billion miles from Earth.
The BITG project builds upon previous interstellar communication attempts, such as the 1974 Arecibo message sent from Puerto Rico’s Arecibo radio telescope to a star cluster approximately 25,000 light-years away.
That transmission included basic representations of a stick figure human, the double helix structure of DNA, atomic numbers of essential chemical elements for life on Earth, and an image of the telescope itself. The Arecibo telescope, a significant tool in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, tragically collapsed in 2020.
The new proposal seeks to update and expand upon these earlier messages by incorporating more detailed and comprehensive information about humanity and our planet. Alongside the nude images, the BITG message would likely include mathematical and physical concepts designed to establish a common mode of communication, as well as data about Earth’s location and our solar system.
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Proponents of the project believe that by providing a clearer and more inviting depiction of humans and our world, we may increase the chances of making contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life.
The proposal also raises questions and debates about the content and implications of broadcasting such information into the cosmos.
As humanity continues to explore the possibilities of life beyond Earth, initiatives like BITG represent both our curiosity about the universe and our desire to connect with unknown civilizations that may share our cosmic neighborhood.
(Agung)
