Hypothetically, would it be possible for an alien civilization to communicate using binary code?

Question

If an alien civilization were to contact us, is it possible - or even likely - that they would use binary code? Considering they probably don't use a roman numbering system like we do, what could their binary code look like? My thought was maybe an empty circle and a filled circle to represent the on/off?

Answer 1

We make the assumption that aliens will attempt to communicate in the universal language of math, like we aim to do.  There's a logic to this, but honestly, I think about this.  When we attempt to talk to a primitive culture, we don't start with "1+1=2" or the like, we start with speech and gestures.  It's a natural response to attempt to communicate in what's comfortable to your culture, so I would expect alien communication to be totally mysterious, and most likely language-based, rather than mathematic.  Math does the service of determining the intelligence of a species, and were that specifically what they are searching for, then it would be likely.  But it's just as likely they are asking "can you understand us?".  Back to the original question, yes, it's likely, but I would expect their own forms of math.  Human culture is believed to have started the base-10 due to our hands, we don't know what kind of math systems exist outside of Earth...or if binary is one of them.

Answer 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJirnJSwq...

Answer 3

There is absolutely no proof of aliens.

Answer 4

Your ideas about symbolics are interesting. The circle would be a universal two dimensional representation of the "perfect form" in our universe due to the way gravity makes spheres. An empty circle represents 0 to us because it IS empty and a filled one would be.....a one :) That is what you were thinking, no?

But consider that aliens might not have the same sense organs as humans or that they might not perceive things in the same way. We have eyes. Eyes are actually brain tissue that transmits signals to other parts of our brains. Our recognition of the two dimensional "circle" would not mean much to an entity who could not see the way we do.

If we close our eyes we would only perceive a sphere as a three dimensional ball and our way of representing that shape to another person might be to take their hands and "describe" a ball shape in the air for them.

But aliens wouldn't necessarily have a sense of touch like ours. I guess that zero, one, multiplicity and other math concepts are likely to be understood by any conscious entity but I don't know if methods for conveying the concepts would be.

Maybe the Helen Keller story might contain some clues?

Answer 5

Let's reverse the question and say that if we had too much time and too much energy, we could send in space electromagnetic signals as binaries. it would be the most logic way to communicate with aliens. The signal would then represent nothing that a train of on and off waves.

The message would be looping, starting by a pattern that shows an intelligent source. It could be a natural progression of numbers in a certain number of bits. But, of course, we couldn't communicate ideas unless the bit pattern represents an image. That is also assuming that the aliens has a vision similar to ours.

Roman character or Arabic decimal numbers (what we use in English) has nothing to do with this, of course. That's the beauty of binaries; it is a natural organization, not a man-made one.

Answer 6

These alien questions are asked 10000000000000 times a day!

Alien theories are rubbish!

Answer 7

Whether they use 1s and 0s isn't really that important. What would be important is how they communicate it and they could communicate binary in any form that has more than one state. For all we know they might use smells in binary!

It is possible they might contact us using an on off method such as binary via standard radio waves, but this would be pretty much useless for conveying messages like we do with each other. The reason computers can communicate with binary with each other is because they decode the 1s and 0s in the same way. The chances of them using any of the many decryption methods we use on Earth is infinitesimal... I would prefer a plain old handshake... if they have hands...

Answer 8

There are no aliens people!

It is hoax along the lines of bigfoot, chupacabras, and the Lochness monster.

Answer 9

It would diffinitely be math to start with.  It wouldn't be the arabic math we know today like 1+2. It would probably be like binary like you suggest, but it would probably be more sophiticated.  take for example current binary which is either 0 or 1. That was designed for use in an electrical setting. Then take electron spin which accounts for 7 different states in stead of just on and off (quantum computing).  Who knows, maybe there is something better than quantum computing and binary code.

How about visual images..the universal language?

Answer 10

if it was possible, they would have done it a long time ago. okay, how will our alien friends send us these 'empty and filled' circles?

i think aliens have a better job than rather messing around with us....lol....

Answer 11

Yes and no  meaning they won't need too. Aliens are telepathic ! they will look you in the eyes and you will understand their questions. you don't even have to bother to reply..because they are reading your minds.

They have a problem with the male species though.  s*x thoughts every 2 seconds makes interactive mind conversation difficult.  

Answer 12

I would think that binary code was very likely. When the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft were launched back in 1972 on a trajectory eventually leaving the Solar System, each carried a plaque indicating the spacecraft's origin using binary coded frequency and position data in case of interception by other beings. See the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_pla...

I imagine the most likely form of binary communication would be through pulsed radio signals with 'off' for 0 and 'on' for 1.