Carl Sagan on Ham Radio and Extraterrestrial Communication

"Stars" by M.C. Escher

I read this on the train this morning and immediately wanted to share it with my fellow radio amateurs:

"And what if we receive a message? Is there any reason to think that the transmitting beings -- evolved over billions of years of geological time in an environment vastly different from our own -- would be sufficiently similar to us for the message to be understood? I think the answer must be yes. A civilization transmitting radio messages must at least know about radio. The frequency, time constant, and bandpass of the message are common to transmitting and receiving civilizations. The situation may be a little like that of amateur or ham radio operators. Except for occasional emergencies, their conversations seem almost exclusively concerned with the mechanics of their instruments: it is the one aspect of their lives they are certain to have in common."

From "The Dragons of Eden" by Carl Sagan.

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