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Let us suppose that we could suspend the laws of physics for a few minutes, train our radiotelescopes on a likely-looking star system with the right kind of planets, and listen for signs of intelligent life. We adjust our headphones and immediately hear something like this: TWEE-CHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEEE – DWERP We are equipped with a sophisticated computer that can instantly mimic and return the signal, so we transmit the following back to our suspect star system: TWEE-CHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEEE – DWERP Only a moment passes, and the following signal comes in: TWEE-CHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEEE – DWERP DWERP Interesting – the same pattern, with the last sound in the series now repeated once. We reply: TWEE-CHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEEE – DWERP DWERP Again, almost immediately, our mysterious signal source returns with: TWEE-CHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEEE – DWERP DWERP DWERP Almost too good to be true – the final sound in the sequence now appears three times, precisely as it should if someone were demonstrating an ability to count 1-2-3. So we reply with TWEE-CHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEEE – DWERP DWERP DWERP and again, instantly, the message comes back as TWEE-CHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEECHEEE – DWERP DWERP DWERP DWERP Now, you may find this difficult to believe, but exactly this kind of exchange recently took place between a human observer and an apparently intelligent non-human source. It was a spontaneous, unrehearsed exchange. I know this exchange took place, because I was the human involved, and the non-human intelligence was none other than my pet canary, Carson. I’m left scratching my head this morning. If some sophisticated monitoring system had, in fact, had exactly the same exchange with – let’s say some unidentified object traveling between the earth and the moon – it would be occasion for mass rejoicing that finally, proof exists that WE ARE NOT ALONE. But heck, Carson and I already know that.
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