Please distribute to others who may be interested... You are hereby invited to a seminar in our twelfth interdisciplinary series on Evolution, Complexity and Cognition <http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108> (ECCO 2015-2016)
Time: Friday October 16 , 14h-16h Place: *D.3.06 , VUB* ------------------------------ X-ray pulsars: An intelligent galactic navigation system? Clément Vidal <http://www.clemvidal.com/> (GBI, ECCO) Abstract: Pulsars -short for pulsating stars- were discovered in November 1967 by Jocelyn Bell. The unusually high frequency of the radio pulsations, and their surprising regularity immediately led to the hypothesis that it could be a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization (ETC). However the ETC hypothesis was quickly dismissed because astrophysicists developed instead a natural “lighthouse model”, in which rotating neutron stars are at the origin of the pulsations. In the 1970s, it was shown that pulsars have at least two impressive applications. First, they can be used as highly accurate clocks, with a stability comparable to atomic clocks. Second, a small subset of pulsars, millisecond X-ray pulsars, provide all the necessary ingredients for a passive galactic navigation system. This is known as X-ray pulsar-based navigation (XNAV) and a proof of concept will be tested by a NASA mission in 2016. XNAV is at least 100 000 billion billion (10^23) times more precise relative to our best global navigation satellite systems, such as GPS! Given this staggering precision, I propose a SETI-XNAV research program. The goal is to test the hypothesis that XNAV might be an instance of galactic-scale engineering by ETC. I first highlight some of the history and rich phenomenology of pulsars. Then I propose possible tests and predictions of SETI-XNAV related to their number, geometric distribution, and pulse patterns. I propose other tests linked with existing ETC hypotheses. I highlight potential policy issues, as well as benefits for the future of humanity, whether the research program succeeds or not. ------------------------------ Upcoming Seminars *Oct. 23 * Bonno Pel and Tom Bauler *Transformative social innovation and the politics of the Global Brain* *Nov. 6 * Jean-François Noubel *Nov. 13 * Clément Vidal *Nov. 20* Martin Monperrus *Nov. 27 * Sayfan G. Borghini Stigmergy in the Design of Social Environments *Dec. 4 * Ben Goertzel *Dec. 11 * Mark Burdick *Dec. 18 * Jos Jacobs See also the ECCO/GBI calendar <https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=azMyN252aWluM2JoMnU3MXY5OGt2ZzliOGdAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ> . You can add this calendar to your calendar application through here <https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/k327nviin3bh2u71v98kvg9b8g%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics> More info about the ECCO seminar program: http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108 -- Evo Evo Busseniers - Seminar Coordinator ECCO Group (VUB) <http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/1> Email: [email protected] Website: http://vub.academia.edu/EvoBusseniers <http://be.linkedin.com/in/weaver9/>
