APOD: Kepler 22b: An Almost Earth Orbiting... (2011 Dec 07)

[Beyond]

I wonder whether intelligent life, if it's possible to evolve for more than a few hundred years after embracing technology, wouldn't be communicating via means other than radio waves.

Looked at another way, if our successors are still around in a few thousand years, will they all be communicating via entangled photons, connections via dimensions outside our universe, or something REALLY advanced, even beyond our current imaginations?

Now, with that in mind, is it likely we'll hear them on the radio?

-Noel

With that in mind... Could it be that the photons that we have been seeing the past through, are also carrying 'other' types of information that we haven't reconized yet, that they have picked up along the way??

[Chris Peterson]

With that in mind... Could it be that the photons that we have been seeing the past through, are also carrying 'other' types of information that we haven't reconized yet, that they have picked up along the way??

There are many ways that data can be encoded, and we have no way of knowing if we've figured all of them out. That said, it seems unlikely that photons are encoded via any fundamental mechanism or physical property we are unaware of. Certainly, we don't routinely break down optical information in all the possible ways we could.

I think the reason that it makes sense to look at fairly simple modulations of light or radio is that these are easily structured to travel long distances and be readily recognized. The assumption is that if we pick up a signal, it will be directed, probably not accidental, and probably not just leakage. I doubt that more advanced civilizations won't still be using radio and photons for much of their communications.