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Buitenaards Babbelen – Deel 1 Buitenaards babbelen – deel 1 Angèle van Oosterom De zoektocht naar buitenaardse beschavingen kent een lange historie. Vele astronomen hebben met optische en radio-telescopen de hemel afgespeurd naar ‘ET’. Mateloos geboeid door dit thema hebben enkele wetenschappers de vlucht naar voren genomen en nagedacht over hoe communicatie met buitenaardsen eruit zou kunnen zien. Zij vormen de METI-gemeenschap, waarbij METI staat voor ‘Messaging ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence’. ETI is zeg maar de avant- Hogben, en de “founding fathers” van gebruik de definitie die stelt dat commu- gardistische tak van SETI, de Kunstmatige Intelligentie, Marvin nicatie een “activiteit is waarbij levende de Search for ExtraTer- Minsky en John McCarthy. Bij hen wezens betekenissen uitwisselen door restrial Intelligence. De voegen zich ook twee Nederlanderse op elkaars signalen te reageren” (defini- M groep METI-onderzoekers omvat o.a. de wetenschappers, Hans Freudenthal en tie van hoogleraar communicatie Gisela bekende Amerikanen Frank Drake, Carl Alexander Ollongren. Freudenthal ont- Redeker). Op aarde communiceren men- Sagan en Marvin Minsky, maar ook twee wierp een rudimentaire kosmische taal sen onderling via natuurlijke talen (elke prominente Nederlandse wetenschap- genaamd Lincos. Ollongren ontwikkelde levende of dode taal die door een aantal pers, wiskundige Hans Freudenthal en Lincos door naar Lincos 2.0, resulterend mensen als hun moedertaal wordt of sterrenkundige Alexander Ollongren. Zij in een nieuwe loot aan de METI-tak, de werd beschouwd.), gebarentaal, enz. plaveiden de weg in het stekelige land- ‘astrolinguïstiek’ (‘exolinguistics’). De Maar hoe dient “communicatie met ETI” schap van de complexe vraagstukken jongere generatie is vertegenwoordigd eruit te zien? Dient ETI-communicatie rondom interstellaire communicatie. door de Canadese natuurkundigen Yvan slechts het doel onszelf kenbaar te ma- Dutil en Stéphane Dumas, de Ameri- ken, of moet de lat hoger en behoeft Kosmisch contact-adepten kaanse informaticus Paul Fitzpatrick, en het de constructie van een (radio)-bood- Er is een kleine, diverse groep weten- psycholinguïst Douglas Vakoch. schap die basiskennis over ons en de schappers, natuurkundigen, astrono- aarde bevat en ook nog informeert over men, informatici en linguïsten die zich Communicatie, van xenofilie verscheidene thema’s, van psychologie in hun academische carrière toegelegd tot “Radio to the Stars” tot geografie? Dit vereiste discussies hebben op het ontwerpen van een ge- Historische experimenten met het over de inhoud van ETI-communicatie, codeerd symboolsysteem ten behoeve sturen van signalen met spiegels in de en zou leiden tot de totstandkoming van van kosmische radioboodschappen vorm van Morsecode enz. leverde geen versleutelde radioboodschappen. Enke- bedoeld voor communicatie met ETI buitenaards contact op. Echter, de ont- len ervan werden geïnspireerd door kos- – ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence. ETI is wikkeling van krachtige radiozenders mische talen als Astraglossa en Lincos. daarbij hypothetisch buitenaards leven ten behoeve van de ruimtevaart bood Voor de Verlichting centreerde “contact’ dat in staat is tot nadenken en zinvolle de mogelijkheid om complexe radio- met ETI” zich primair op de vorm. Spie- activiteit. Enkele radioboodschappen boodschappen de kosmos in te sturen. gelconstructies, lampen en Morsecode zijn al de kosmos ingestuurd, waaronder Dit deed vervolgens de discussie over werden populair. De Duitse wiskundige de bekende Arecibo message. de vorm en inhoud van zulke berichten Carl-Friedrich Gauss streefde communi- De eerste generatie METI-wetenschap- oplaaien, met name over CETI (Commu- catie met Maanbewoners na, en bouwde pers zijn de Amerikaanse astronoom nication with ETI), METI (Messaging...) de ‘heliotroop’: een spiegelconstructie Frank Drake, de natuurkundige Carl en SETI (Search...). bedoeld om met gebundeld zonlicht Sagan, de Russische wiskundige Alex Het begrip ‘communicatie’ is breed: Van boodschappen in de Maanwoestenij te Zaitsev, de Britse zoöloog Lancelot Dale biedt 25 verschillende definities. Ik branden. In de 19e eeuw raasde er door 16 Ruimtevaart 2021 | 1 Links: Alexander Ollongren (1928 - ) [Janus Nuiten]. Rechts: Hans Freudenthal (1905 - 1990). [Freudenthal Instituut UU] de wereld een heuse ‘xenofilie’-hype (liefde voor het vreemde), met als cen- trum Parijs. Iedere poging tot kosmische Kosmische talen communicatie werd aangemoedigd, zozeer zelfs dat er een prijs van 100.000 Astraglossa gebruikt strepen en punten, analoog aan lange en korte radiopulsen, Franc (destijds equivalent aan USD “radiogliefen”, om basale mathematische principes te communiceren. Hogben 500.000), de Prix-Guzman, ingesteld introduceert het concept van identiteit en elementaire rekenkundige operatoren werd voor de eerste die contact opnam en bouwt het systeem op vanuit deze basiscomponenten tot het punt waarop ze met buitenaardsen. kunnen worden gebruikt om astronomische verschijnselen te beschrijven. De eerste poging om een compleet pro- gramma te ontwikkelen voor kosmisch Lincos start met cijfers. Net zoals de vroegste voorbeelden van menselijk schrijven contact stamt uit 1896. De Britse poly- ideogrammatisch waren (waarbij een symbool verwijst naar het ding dat het math Francis Galton construeerde een afbeeldt), zo zijn de eerste Lincos-teksten ‘ideofonetisch’: ze bestaan uit korte boodschap gebaseerd op Morsecode. Hij piepgeluiden waarbij het aantal piepgeluiden overeenkomt met het cijfer dat is stelde dat, zonder feedback, er intrinsiek vertegenwoordigd. Als zodanig is Lincos afhankelijk van de intelligentie van de begrijpelijke signalen moeten worden ontvangers om in eerste instantie te erkennen dat n piepgeluiden overeenkomen bedacht. Zijn systeem bevatte lichtflits- met het cijfer n. Na het leren tellen tot tien, kan begonnen worden met het leren signalen van drie verschillende lengtes van elementaire wiskundige operatoren, zoals optellen en aftrekken, of het die gecombineerd werden om letters en principe van identiteit. In het kort zou dit er zo uitzien: ... > ... of ..... = ..... woorden te vormen. De boodschap bood een systematische uitleg van astrono- De Dumas-Dutil boodschap telt 23 pagina’s, elk gearrangeerd als een mische feiten via een taal van basale 127 x 127 pixelarray. Via basale rekenkunde stapt het over naar het beschrijven wiskunde en beelden. van complexere thema’s. Ieder symbool bestaat uit een foutbestendige 5 x 7 Begin 20e eeuw zorgde het pionierswerk bitmap; verandering van de bitwaarde in een symbool maakt het geen ander van Guiseppe Marconi en Nikolà Tesla symbool. De cijfers 0 t/m 9 en aritmetische principes worden door voorbeelden voor technologiedoorbraken die een geïntroduceerd. Dit dient als basis voor thema’s als geometrie, DNA-structuur effectievere manier van radiocommu- en een afbeelding van de 70-meter grote radiotelescoop in Evpatoria, Oekraïne. nicatie door de kosmos permitteerde. Marconi zond letters via de radio en Tesla Transformationele taalkunde veronderstelt een vastliggende, algemene ontdekte radiosignalen van Jupiter. Bei- syntactische grondstructuur voor taal; deze universele grammatica is gestoeld op den stortten zich op de zoektocht naar neurologische bevindingen: er is een afgebakend gebied in de hersenen (Broca) kosmisch contact; Marconi schreef ar- dat specifiek bedoeld is voor grammatica. tikelen als ‘Ethergrams to Mars’ en over ‘Radio to the Stars’. Onbewust legden zij Ruimtevaart 2021 | 1 17 Drake en Sagan sleutelden tijdens de begindagen van SETI ook al een METI in elkaar, de welbekende Arecibo message, verzonden in 1974. ETI-boodschappen werden meegestuurd op interstellaire sondes: de Pioneer ‘Plaques’ en de Voya- ger ‘Golden Records’, tijdscapsules met informatie over het leven op aarde. Deze berichten waren echter voornamelijk symbolisch, aangezien de sondes pas over tienduizenden jaren enigszins in de buurt van andere sterren komen. METI-renaissance, Ollongrens astrolinguïstiek Ondanks de grotere aandacht voor SETI borrelde METI onderhuids door, en ging een enkel voortvarend wetenschapper verder met het sleutelen aan interstellaire radioboodschappen. De term METI is van Kosmische taal in de science fiction film Contact uit 1997. [Warner Brothers] Alex Zaitsev, bedacht op een SETI-con- gres in Byurakan, Armenië, in 1971. Op het grondwerk voor wat later ‘METI’ zou of a Language for Cosmic Intercourse, dit congres liepen de gemoederen hoog worden, een term die in 1971 tijdens een wordt beschouwd als het eerste, volledig op m.b.t. de te gebruiken terminologie SETI-congres geïntroduceerd werd door ontwikkelde symbolische communica- en methodes voor communicatie met Alexander Zaitsev,. tiesysteem voor interstellaire communi- ETI. Zaitsev poneerde METI als reactie op catie. Beginnend met basiscijfers, bouwt CETI, de titel van het congres, bedacht METI-avant-la-lettre, de tekst een taal op die probeert om door Carl Sagan. Zaitsev stelde ferm Astraglossa, Lincos concepten uit de natuurwetenschappen dat Sagan slechts bezig was met triviaal In de jaren ’50 ontwikkelden onafhan- te beschrijven, evenals meer abstracte “aandacht trekken van ETI”. Zaitsev had kelijk van elkaar de zoöloog Lancelot begrippen zoals liefde en dood. hogere aspiraties: hij wilde echte ideeën- Hogben en Hans Freudenthal een kos- In dezelfde periode floreerde de zo- uitwisseling. Het tot ontploffing brengen mische taal, respectievelijk Astraglossa genoemde passieve SETI: dankzij de van onze gehele nucleaire arsenaal op de en Lincos. Hun werk betekende een radioastronomie kregen wetenschap-
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