Guest EditorialCommunication is a two-way street; even T.V. is becoming interactive after fifty years. This principle, by definition, will come to apply to intra-galactic communication with virtual timeless consciousness. We are in the extreme early stages of communication within the Galaxy and have encountered barriers to the two-way principle in the minds of those who fear that by reaching outwards the world will in some way bring disaster upon itself.
The selection of the so-called Water-Hole frequency band for listening carries with it a certain reciprocal implication. Water is life's basic ingredient. We assume naturally that life in the galaxy will involve water. The wavelengths for broadcasting in the Galaxy are virtually infinite. One expects that minds will have much in common, that highly evolved intelligence seeking to reach out will select first a band common to biological life. Isn't the assumption by those thinkers that intelligence sufficiently advanced to listen will have reached the same conclusion? The broadcaster has evolved further than just the listener. The broadcaster has envisioned the Galaxy as a forming "brain" connecting up its mature planetary neurons from many enlightened areas, until the whole is alight with timeless consciousness.
What we hope to hear in the "Water-Hole" is a deliberate message. Isn't it apt to suggest that we are one in a Cosmic whole in a continuum? Since "we are not alone," doesn't it follow that as beings seeking a connection, we might begin to drop our early fears and begin to take the maturing and positive step towards planning to reciprocate with a transmission?
We have seen the metamorphosis from analogue to digital while the Information Age continues an exponential development. The concept of SETI can take several swift evolutionary steps now. The SETI League should expand its mission to seek internally a preliminary set of parameters for the content of Earth's first transmissions. We must educate those concerned in the world about SETI, and help them to overcome any fear of negative consequences. We should circulate among our international colleagues preliminary parameters, and promote a conference to orchestrate our planet's first tentative steps toward maturity.
The latter step might be greatly furthered by soliciting thoughts at the outset from other SETI enthusiasts. Who better than The SETI League to adopt a leadership role in this global effort?
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