[cap-talk] Extra-terrestrials and timing

[John McCabe-Dansted]

On 1/9/07, Jed Donnelley <capability at webstart.com> wrote:
> I also think that the case of the extra terrestrial communication
> that might come with public key identities but where "they" could
> in fact be collaborating behind the scenes is also relevant to
> this case.

While this may not be directly relevant, if we have two extra
terrestrial civilisations A and B we are likely to know not only their
public keys, but also there position relative to us. From this and the
law of relativity we may be able to deduce that A is not a proxy for B
(although it may be an intelligent agent programmed to represent B's
interest). We could also send a word macro virus to B (hey it works in
the movies) and warn A not to open any attachments from B. By the time
A's warning reaches B we could know that it would be too late to save
whatever is at B.

-- 
John C. McCabe-Dansted
PhD Student
University of Western Australia