| Lincos | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Hans Freudenthal |
| Date | 1960 |
| Setting and usage | search for extraterrestrial intelligence |
| Purpose | |
| Sources | a priori |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Lincos (an abbreviation of the Latin phrase lingua cosmica) is a constructed language first described in 1960 by Dr. Hans Freudenthal in his book Lincos: Design of a Language for Cosmic Intercourse, Part 1. It is a language designed to be understandable by any possible intelligent extraterrestrial life form, for use in interstellar radio transmissions. [1] Freudenthal considered that such a language should be easily understood by beings not acquainted with any Earthling syntax or language. Lincos was designed to be capable of encapsulating "the whole bulk of our knowledge."
The Lincos "dictionary" is intended to be transmitted first before any additional messages. It teaches natural numbers by a series of repeated pulses, separated by pauses. It then teaches >, <, =, +, -, by examples such as . . . . . > . . . There would need to be more pause than he shows around > to show an alien that > is a new separate symbol. Otherwise the alien can think the whole pattern is a new symbol of unknown meaning. Having introduced =, he shows binary notation for numbers . = 1, . . = 10 and so on. He goes on to multiplication, division, variables and constants, then propositional logic, set theory and first-order logic. He tries to introduce questions by leaving mathematical expressions unsolved: ? x x + 101 = 11
The next section of the Lincos dictionary introduces a word for second, "Sec," by playing pulses of various lengths, followed by Sec, and the number of seconds, "until the receiver may be expected to remark that the numbers... are proportional to the durations," [2] thus teaching both that Sec is a unit of time, and exactly how long it is. He then introduces means for measuring durations, referring to moments in time, and talking about past and future events.
The third section is perhaps the most complex, and attempts to convey the concepts and language necessary to describe behavior and conversation between individuals. It uses examples to introduce actors speaking to each other, asking questions, disapproving, quoting other people, knowing and wanting things, promising, and playing. The first steps (since he has introduced sets of numbers and questions) are to introduce some new symbols (distinctive patterns of pulses), say they are NOT numbers, and transmit sequences showing two of these new symbols separated by the word "Inq," and followed by a question about an equation, then the symbols reversed, followed by the answer (example below). He expects that after many repetitions, the recipient will decide these new symbols are entities asking and answering the questions, rather than some other context for the questions.
Finally, the fourth section describes the concepts and language relating to mass, space, and motion. This last section goes so far as to describe physical features of human beings and of the Solar System.
A second book was planned but never written that would have added four more sections to the dictionary: "Matter", "Earth", "Life" and "Behavior 2". Other researchers have since extended the language somewhat on their own. One example is CosmicOS. Another is a second-generation Lingua Cosmica [3] developed by the Dutch-Swedish astronomer and mathematician Alexander Ollongren [4] of Leiden University, using constructive logic.
Freudenthal's book on Lincos discusses it with many technical words from linguistic and logical theory, usually without defining them, which may have reduced its general interest, though the main chapters can be understood without these technical terms: appellatives, binding, formalization, function, lexicology, logistical, ostensive, quasi-general, semantics, syntax, variables, etc.
For decades, no actual transmissions were made using Lincos; it remained largely a theoretical exercise, until Canadian astrophysicists Yvan Dutil and Stéphane Dumas, working at the Canadian Defense Research Establishment, created a noise-resistant coding system for messages aimed at communicating with extraterrestrial civilizations.[ citation needed ] In 1999, the astrophysicists encoded a message in Lincos and used the Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope in Ukraine to beam it towards close stars. This is known as Cosmic Call. The experiment was repeated (using other close stars as target) in 2003. The message was a series of pages describing some basic mathematics, physics and astronomy. [5] The Dutil–Dumas experiment was promoted by an organization called Encounter 2001. [6]
Some researchers have explored the similar issues in communicating with intelligent animals such as cetaceans.[ citation needed ] Lincos messages (even if sent by pulses of sound rather than radio) are complex and need to reach the most patient, logically oriented members of the target species. A far simpler approach aimed at average members of a species can cover numbers, >, <, =, +, -, and time.
An example of Lincos from section 3 of Freudenthal's book, showing one individual asking another individual questions:
| Lincos text | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ha Inq Hb ?x 2x=5 | Ha says to Hb: What is the x such that 2x=5? |
| Hb Inq Ha 5/2 | Hb says to Ha: 5/2. |
| Ha Inq Hb Ben | Ha says to Hb: Good. |
| Ha Inq Hb ?x 4x=10 | Ha says to Hb: What is the x such that 4x=10? |
| Hb Inq Ha 10/4 | Hb says to Ha: 10/4. |
| Ha Inq Hb Mal | Ha says to Hb: Bad. |
| Hb Inq Ha 1/4 | Hb says to Ha: 1/4. |
| Ha Inq Hb Mal | Ha says to Hb: Bad. |
| Hb Inq Ha 5/2 | Hb says to Ha: 5/2. |
| Ha Inq Hb Ben | Ha says to Hb: Good. |
Note the difference between "good" and "bad" as compared to "true" and "false"; 10/4 is a true answer to the question, so Ver ("true") would be a valid response, but since it wasn't reduced to lowest terms, it wasn't what Ha wanted and so he responded Mal ("bad") instead. The book separately teaches Ver and Fal for true and false.
Another example, showing meta-conversation:
| Lincos text | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ha Inq Hb ?x 4x=10 | Ha says to Hb: What is the x such that 4x=10? |
| Hb Inq Hc ?yy Inq Hb ?x 4x=10 | Hb says to Hc: Who asked me for the x such that 4x=10? |
| Hc Inq HbHa | Hc says to Hb: Ha. |
In the motion picture Contact (1997), SETI astronomers receive a radio transmission from space that has a Lincos-like dictionary embedded in the message.
In the 2016 sci-fi blockbuster film, Arrival , Stephen Wolfram and his son were consulted by film production to help analyze symbols known as logograms that ultimately served as the basis for the alien language utilized throughout the film. Wolfram's personal copy of Lincos was present on the film's set. [7]
In the Stanisław Lem novel His Master's Voice, Lincos is mentioned together with Loglan.
The Fermi paradox, named after Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations and various high estimates for their probability.
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other planets.
Extraterrestrial intelligence refers to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life. The question of whether other inhabited worlds might exist has been debated since ancient times. The modern form of the concept emerged when the Copernican Revolution demonstrated that the Earth was a planet revolving around the Sun, and other planets were conversely, other worlds. The question of whether other inhabited planets or moons exist was a natural consequence of this new understanding. It has become one of the most speculative questions in science and is a central theme of science fiction and popular culture.
Hans Freudenthal was a Jewish-German-born Dutch mathematician. He made substantial contributions to algebraic topology and also took an interest in literature, philosophy, history and mathematics education.
The Arecibo message is a 1974 interstellar radio message carrying basic information about humanity and Earth sent to globular star cluster M13. It was meant as a demonstration of human technological achievement, rather than a real attempt to enter into a conversation with extraterrestrials.
Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence or CETI is a branch of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence that focuses on composing and deciphering interstellar messages that theoretically could be understood by another technological civilization. This field of study once was known as exosemiotics. The best-known CETI experiment of its kind was the 1974 Arecibo message composed by Frank Drake.
The Teen Age Message (TAM) was a series of interstellar radio transmissions sent from the Yevpatoria Planetary Radar to six solar-type stars during August–September 2001. The structure of the TAM was suggested by Alexander Zaitsev, Chief Scientist at Russia's Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics. The message's content and target stars were selected by a group of teens from four Russian cities, who collaborated in person and via the Internet. Each transmission comprised three sections: a sounding, a live theremin concert, and digital data including images and text. TAM was humanity's fourth Active SETI broadcast and the first musical interstellar radio message.
CosmicOS is a self-contained message designed to be understood primarily by treating it as a computer program and executing it. It is inspired by Hans Freudenthal's Lincos and resembles the programming language Scheme in many ways.
Aleksandr Leonidovich Zaitsev is a Russian and Soviet radio engineer and astronomer from Fryazino. He works on radar astronomy devices, near-Earth asteroid radar research, and SETI.
Astrolinguistics is a field of linguistics connected with the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
Active SETI is the attempt to send messages to intelligent extraterrestrial life. Active SETI messages are usually sent in the form of radio signals. Physical messages like that of the Pioneer plaque may also be considered an active SETI message. Active SETI is also known as METI. The term METI was coined by Russian scientist Alexander Zaitsev, who denoted the clear-cut distinction between Active SETI and METI:
The Hercules Text is a 1986 science fiction novel by American writer Jack McDevitt. It tells the story of a message of intelligent extraterrestrial origin received by SETI scientists. The Hercules Text was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award in 1986.
Yvan Dutil, born April 6, 1970, is a Canadian astrophysicist. He is a member of the Bioastronomy Commission of the International Astronomical Union and of the International Academy of Astronautics's Permanent Committee on the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He and colleague Stéphane Dumas, created a noise-resistant coding system for messages aimed at communicating with extraterrestrial civilization. This system was used in the creation of messages beamed towards close stars from the Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope in Ukraine in 1999 and 2003.
Cosmic Call was the name of two sets of interstellar radio messages that were sent from RT-70 in Yevpatoria, Crimea in 1999 and 2003 to various nearby stars. The messages were designed with noise-resistant format and characters.
Lone Signal was a crowdfunded active SETI project designed to send messages from Earth to a possible extraterrestrial civilization. Founded by businessman Pierre Fabre and supported by several entrepreneurs, Lone Signal was based at the Jamesburg Earth Station in Carmel, California. The project's beacon, which commenced continuous operations on June 17, 2013, transmitted short, 144-character messages by citizens of Earth to the red dwarf star Gliese 526, located 17.6 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Boötes. The Lone Signal team hoped to earn US$100 million to construct a network of dishes across the Earth's surface, beaming messages to many regions of the Milky Way galaxy. The project ceased transmission shortly after it began, due to lack of funding.
Jhr. Alexander Ollongren is a professor emeritus at Leiden University. He serves on the Advisory Council of METI.
Stéphane Dumas (1970–2016) was a Canadian physicist who, together with his colleague Yvan Dutil, has created a noise-resistant coding system for messages aimed at communicating with extraterrestrial civilization. This system was used in the creation of messages beamed towards close stars from the Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope in Ukraine in 1999 and 2003.
A formal description of an alien language in science fiction may have been pioneered by Percy Greg's Martian language in his 1880 novel Across the Zodiac, although already the 17th century book The Man in the Moone describes the language of the Lunars, consisting "not so much of words and letters as tunes and strange sounds", which is in turn predated by other invented languages in fictional societies, e.g., in Thomas More's Utopia.
METI International, simply known as METI, is a non-profit research organization that creates and transmits interstellar messages to search for extraterrestrial civilizations. In July 2015, the papers to form METI were filed by its founder and president, Douglas Vakoch. METI is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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