Someone was bound to come up with this idea.
A group at Cosmos Magazine, in honor of National Science Week in Australia and the International Year of Astronomy, has launched a site in which you can send an SMS message to Gliese 581d, a planet, possibly Earth-like, 20.3 light years away in the constellation Libra.
People are posting from all over the world and while I'm not sure if these entries are moderated in some way, a sampling of messages includes:
"we're a mob called human beings. we make lots of mistakes but we basically mean well most of the time, although i wouldn't trust us as far as you could throw us". ' Deb from Australia
"Do you have beautiful and sexy women that are always willing to share their love and DO NOT MAKE stupid comments? Bring some to the Dominican Republic PLEEEEASE" Jose from Santo Domingo City
"We are but primitive specks floating amongst the stars. Take solace in the fact that you are not alone should this message reach you. Love, Earth." Patrick from Flushing
Obviously, many of these are humorous but in a very unscientific perusal of some of the entries, it's interesting to see the themes that emerge if people had a chance to communicate with people on another planet and how these messages reflect how we see ourselves. A lot of people talk about what a hostile species we humans are, how we're destroying our own planet and the need for peace.
If extra terrestrials ever receive these messages, would they bother to respond?
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