Could other beings use light as an intergalactic messaging system and embed a message into it?

Question

I know everyone wonders if aliens would communicate by radio waves but what about using light? See this -->

http://discovermagazine.com/2002/nov/featsearch/

Yes, you could see the pulses of light. But couldn't we perhaps "develop" the signal like you develop a photograph? Can you embed some kind of "message" into the laser pulses and in turn "see" messages that are sent?

Check this out too-->

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/03/05/do-advanced-civilizations-communicate-with-neutrinos/

Answer 1

Of course this is possible - we use light cables, why can't they?

Answer 2

how audio technologies have been able to extract distinct sounds from apparent noise perhaps there are technologies far beyond our comprehension able to extract distinct images from light "noise" that we might just call "light" - maybe telescopes looking at earth right now that are a few hundred more years ahead in technological advancement than we know on earth are able to not only see our earth, maybe they're able to see everything on earth by difracting or refracting light in ways we can't fathom

maybe not

what I'm most sure of is that humans sure do have the capacity to swear that we've reached some scientific immutable peak, or immutable truth, which is then swiftly proven wrong given an adequate amount of time

I remember hearing people thought the world would end if we crossed the sound barrier

I also recall hearing that the natives in the soon to be named "Americas" couldn't even see Columbus' ships docked out in bay in plain sight because it was a realm of technology beyond their comprehension

maybe in modern society we have too many scientists trying to prove too many things are impossible so that the ships docked in our bay remain invisible

Answer 3

Radio waves and light are the same thing.  They are both electro-magnetic waves(along with microwaves, x-rays, uv rays, infrared, gamma rays, etc...)

What we call 'light', is simply the tiny spectrum of electro-magnetic waves that our eyes are able to receive.  There very well might be an alien race that is able to 'see' radio waves.  And perhaps they developed the technology to communicate by light waves(which would perhaps be invisible to them).

So yes, it's very possible.  But, if so, they probably aren't very close to us, because we would have seen their signals by now.

Answer 4

Sure.  We use light to encode things today (e.g. fiber optic cables).

But why would you want to?  Radio waves travel just as quickly and are more capable of penetrating intervening matter (for instance sun light will not go through the walls of your room but the radio broadcast will).