After receiving no response from SETI regarding our message, I obviously started to wonder why. It was of course immensely disheartening, which goes a long way towards explaining why I’ve hardly been posting anything over the last month or so. I do have quite strong emotions, you know.
My first thought was, naturally, that they must think I’m just another loony. This is understandable, as it happens, in this day and age and of course in view of America itself, which is clearly full of them. Over 155 million of them, after all, voted for either Trump or Biden. The latter seems determined to provoke World War III with Russia and China. The American people don’t seem to realise that the ‘lesser of two evils’ is still evil. If their American Green Party won they would have a utopia within a generation. So they are clearly lacking in emotional maturity.
So too, unfortunately, are SETI themselves. They seem fixated on the idea that an ETI would send signals between the stars at the speed of light, despite the obvious shortcomings of such a method. It’s hardly practical for communication purposes, after all. It’s like sending a message by post on a boat to the other side of the world instead of picking up the phone or sending an email. Advanced ETIs would use quantum teleportation (QT) for long-distance messaging. And here’s the game theory/psychological aspect of this – the ETI would assume that any reception-capable civilisation would also realise this. In other words, the ETI would not automatically assume that the potential receiver civilisation was emotionally and psychologically stupid.
Furthermore, as I have indicated elsewhere, there is only a relatively short technological window in which a civilisation would even bother thinking about lightspeed messaging – I would say something like 200 years, between the advent of radio telescopes and viable QT (and faster-than-light travel). So there would be no point sending a message beyond a 100 lightyear radius. Furthermore, you would also, as per the so-called Drake equation, have to believe that there was a receiver civilisation within that radius at pretty much the same stage of development as you, which is so unlikely as to be not worth the bother about (absent deliberate intervention, of course, to ensure compatibility between two near-neighbours – which, ironically, is not unlikely – and of great sociological interest, I have to say, partly as an experiment).
None of this seems to have occurred to SETI.
If this kind of thinking had occurred to them, then they would surely have interpreted the Wow! signal very differently – to such an extent, actually, that they would’ve understood it. Part of the purpose behind it, after all, was to be a kind of test. Which, clearly, SETI failed miserably.
There is, however, another possible explanation, which is that they did recognise the authenticity of the message (even if not understanding all of it) but covered it up.
There are two prominent reasons I can think of for a cover up. First, sheer terror, and second, the thought that public knowledge of its authenticity would ‘destroy the fabric of society as we know it’ etc.
This second reason is not entirely untrue, but this upheaval would only be temporary (and humans do need to start thinking things and consequence through longer term – that’s called game theory) – it’s the dystopians who would suffer, and after a short transitional, adjustment period, this proof of contact would usher in a golden age for humanity, a utopia, in other words (hence why dystopians would seek to cover up these things). Humanity would demand of its social leaders that they fix all the problems – if they didn’t, they would be removed physically from their positions (of course, we must bear in mind here that ‘good things must never be done by bad people’ because it only makes them look good and they only do it for selfish reasons, for their own survival. They must never be allowed to get away with it – the people must never forget that they were bad, and could have fixed all those problems any time they wanted.)
This is why contact is so important.
As for the sheer terror aspect, this is not something I can readily accept. There was nothing inherently frightening about our message, after all. Part of the reason for sending a musical gift was to signal friendly intentions. The only ‘hostile’ aspect is in the implication that we know everything about you (otherwise the metadata wouldn’t work harmoniously) and we ‘hacked’ into your IBM 1130 to deliver the message. In other words the signal did not come from hundreds of lightyears away (and thus would not be perceived as a threat, rather something of only abstract interest), but ‘ETI is already here’. Likewise, the technology possessed by us is so far in advance of humanity’s as to seem like magic. Maybe that scared them too. Only they can answer that question.
But it is all very sad and disheartening indeed.
So, if they did cover it up, how did they do it? Simple answer – make it look as if the signal was received one hour later than it was – so the metadata doesn’t add up. Specifically, according to Jerry Ehman’s report, he says it was 22:16 EST, meaning EDT would be 23:16, meaning 03:16 UTC instead of 02:16.
The other explanation being simple ‘human’ error – that’s to say someone screwed up when they programmed the computer, so it told the wrong time.
I may have lost you here, sorry. I’ll explain.
So I looked a little more deeply into the Wow! signal details and it seems that I did indeed misremember a few things, which may explain SETI’s dismissal. The exact time of 22:16 local time (02:16 UTC) was not, as it happens, the start of the 72 second message (thus likewise 02:17:12 was not the ‘end’ of it either). The timing of the 22:16 was aligned with the highest intensity part of the message (represented by the alphanumeric ‘U’ in the readout).
So ok, fair enough. Part of the point, however, is to simply make people think. Unfortunately human scientists seem to think only in ‘exactitude’ – any mathematical deviation and they dismiss it.
Still, if they really believe that the timing error was ours, despite our superior technology, then they need to re-evaluate their values. The timing error in question being exactly one hour too late for the chronological harmony with the Voyager 1 probe’s launch (20 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes, 1 second). Note well – exactly one hour – not some random number of minutes. Not one minute earlier or later, but exactly one hour. SETI are really trying to claim here that for the want of that one hour the Wow! signal would’ve been perfectly aligned with the Voyager launch. Will I ever know what their thoughts are on this? I don’t hold out much hope.
But the idea of us making a silly mistake like that is not credible (regardless of what I may think about our engineering specialists, ha ha).
So then, it behoves me to cite more evidence of the authenticity of the message, as well as the fact that this message did not originate hundreds of light years away, just as I have said.
Ok then, here’s some more Wow! signal mischief.
The simple answer is that the signal is not solely contained in channel 2 of the printout.
For those unfamiliar with what I’m talking about here, the Big Ear telescope recorded incoming data from 50 channels. The 6-string alphanumeric sequence popularly known as the Wow! signal was located in channel 2.
Of course we wouldn’t let you get away that easily!
By inserting data into other channels, as well as ‘before and after’ the 72 second window, we are telling you, beyond reasonable doubt, that this message did not come from hundreds of lightyears away.
You will need to refer to the image of the printout for this one:

The first and most obvious thing that should jump out at the reader is the number 31 right after the ‘U’. That’s to say the number 3 is in channel 3, the number 1 in channel 4 (at the same time – 22:16). It should be recalled that the letter ‘U’ refers to a signal intensity 30-31 times the standard deviation from the background. Furthermore, combined with other mathematical harmonies and ratios etc. in the surrounding numbers (and the exact time of the signal) this should’ve prompted Jerry Ehman to think about the harmonic series. If he’d done that, he would’ve hopefully been led to decipher the musical key. Likewise, he would’ve been prompted to look at those other surrounding numbers in the printout and, as it happens, think differently. Either he did notice and got terrified, or he really didn’t notice. Writing ‘Wow!’ in the margin might psychologically suggest the latter. Maybe he got carried away, and then got fixated on where the signal might have come from (hundreds of lightyears away in a particular direction) – his report, by the way, spends an inordinate amount of time analysing all that. He says nothing whatsoever about the metadata. So either it didn’t occur to him, or he was so terrified that he doctored the whole thing. Only he can answer that question.
The next, and somewhat mathematically beautiful (in my opinion, if I say so myself) sequence is located in channel 4, which should be read from top to bottom. The sequence in question reads 61-2411-4344.
Although this might not be readily apparent, a little thought should make it so. Indeed, the 4344 and the 24 should prompt this. 4344 is exactly 181 times 24. In other words it’s 180 times 24 plus 24. 180 being half a circle. Likewise, 61 has a similar feel to it.
4344 being 4320 plus 24 should also give pause for circum-referential thought. 4320 is 72 times 60.
This number 24, clearly, is extremely prominent (as a further piece of mischief, combine this with 216 being 6x6x6 and remember the number 24 from the Revelation of St. John, ha ha).
You can also do your adding the numbers up thing. So 6+1=7, 2+4+1+1=8, and 4+3+4+4=15. That’s a sequence – 7+8=15, and likewise, all those numbers add up to 30 (cf. ‘U’).
So having seen that 4344 is a very divisible number, we can try this with the other two sequences. First, we’ll add 61 to 2411 and get 2472. Clearly a 1:3 ratio. It’s also divisible by 24 of course, namely 103.
If you divide it by 72 you get 34.3* (343 being 73).
It should also be noted that the difference between 4344 and 2472 is 1872. 18×4=72 (or a 1:4 ratio, if you like).
Because we’re dealing with channel 4 here, however, we’ll divide these numbers by 4. Thus 2472/4 = 618, and 4344/4 is 1086. Given that humans measure the speed of light as 186,000 miles per second, this is quite intriguing. Likewise, the 2411 adds up to 8 which can be placed next to the ‘61’ for emphasis.
Another thing to consider here is the so-called ‘golden ratio’, which is approximately 1.618. That number is clearly evident in all this. There are also a few other approximations of this ratio within the wider signal.
618 x 1.618 is 999.924, which is about as close to 1000 you’ll get with a whole number of that size. That’s nice and neat.
As a further example within the 6-digit sequence itself you can also see 19 and 30. These are the distances from the sun in AU of Uranus and Neptune respectively. I am wondering whether SETI noticed this (and if so, what their reaction was).
Many people at SETI like to think that ‘proof’ of an artificial origin for a message would involve the message mentioning some fixed constant of the laws of physics, like Pi for example. Well, I think c or the golden ratio should also suffice. Especially seeing as c is mischievously presented in human terms.
Another little sequence is next to the ‘E’, where you have 24-3-12. The ratios there are 8:1:4. The 8:1 should hopefully again make one think of octaves. Likewise, in the harmonic series 3, 12 and 24 are all the same note (G, as it happens; the other G is the number 6).
The middle number there ‘3’ is the top of a 4-string number, 3613. 3×12=36 of course. 1+3=4, which gets you to 364. These are just nice little hints or prompts for more pretty numbers games. They’re not supposed to really mean anything scientific other than to demonstrate artificial design.
Of course I may be wrong there, because I do not remember everything. It is after all quite likely that the numbers refer to dates and events or objects, some of which have not yet happened.
The channel 4 string, for example, could refer to the date 16 November 2024, at precisely 11:26 (presumably UTC).
Given the way the world is going (towards a catastrophe), November 2024 may well be seen as a cut-off date, a point of no return (there will, after all, most likely continue to be fascist governments in both America and Britannia at that time, meaning there is no hope for humanity without external intervention).
The other not impossible interpretation for the channel 4 number string is that 24.11 and 43.44 are the new coordinates for the north pole after a planetary axis tilt, which many psychic and metaphysical types have long predicted (although not a specific date – the date in 2024 previous mentioned, however, is an obvious option).
On a similar, but (possibly) related note, the number 61 could indicate the year 2061, which is the next scheduled return of Halley’s comet. Would it not be intriguing indeed if that mysterious Oumuamua thing was simply a means of gravitationally altering the trajectory of a body in that distant part of the solar system such that at some hallowed date in the future humanity finds it on a direct collision course (with either the planet or the moon)? Scary thoughts, but mischievous nonetheless.
The final bit of number mischief I wanted to draw your attention to is in channel 16 (together with a ‘3’ in channel 14). The numbers in question are 332-7 (the ‘3’ from channel 14 is just before the ‘7’). If we want to go back to the 18-21cm quiet zone in the cosmic radiation spectrum (I think people call it the ‘waterhole’) then that’s clearly here via multiplication. 3x3x2=18, 3×7=21.
We can also read some of this backwards – 7+233+240 (the 24 again). 332+7=339. 339 divided by 3 is 113, and you should be able to see the 113 alongside it in channel 14.
33/2 also makes me think of revolutions per minute. It’s not exactly the 16 and 2/3 rpm of the golden record, but you can’t have everything!
Part of the reason I mention all these seemingly silly numbers games is because the chances are if SETI really didn’t notice them then it’s highly likely they have also failed to notice other messages hidden in their reams and reams of computer printouts. I would suggest they first look at important dates and times. The launch of the Voyager probes, for example (and possibly the Pioneer ones too). One date to also look out for is 25 August 2012, which is when Voyager left the solar system, thus making humanity a spacefaring species (and thus a member of our galactic sector, with all the implications that entails – including our right (and responsibility) to intervene).
In order to locate these other messages, then, simply requires an analysis of the metadata. Together with noticing various harmonic sequences of numbers (many of which will indicate bookends of the messages). Given that humans use binary code for computers and information, it is extremely likely that there are other pieces of information buried in all that apparent background radiation. But it’s not really my job to decipher all these things for humanity – that’s their job.
One final factor to note about the metadata of the Wow! signal. If we are talking here about precisely 22:16 local time, then this equates to the local sidereal time of precisely 18:21. Obviously that’s this 18-21 cm wavelength again, but it also means the ‘apparent’ direction of origin of the signal is quite different to the one calculated in Jerry Ehman’s report.
So where in the heavens would this point to? If Jerry Ehman really was terrified by what he discovered then we can only assume that the direction of origin is really quite profound.
If that’s where Sirius was at that time, for example, then I can understand his reaction (I don’t think it was, to be honest, and I really can’t get my head around these online star maps – call it laziness). The same would apply if it was Centauri (I’m fairly certain that’s where we were when we sent the message – our colony station, that’s to say). Making an educated, instinctive guess at these online star maps for that specific location/date, an hour earlier means it may well have come from somewhere in the vicinity of Lyra/Vega, which would be intriguing. But what do I know?
Anyway, there’s a little bit more Wow! signal mischief for you, as well as the – I hope – convincing proof that there was, at the very least, an intelligent design behind the message. Obviously at this stage I can’t exactly prove – in terms of human science – that it was me (or my species/family) who really was responsible for sending it, so that will have to remain a question of faith, at least for the time being.
Having said that, I challenge you to try finding anyone else on your Internet (or the world) who has been able to decipher the message. Let alone someone who was born, harmoniously, exactly 1648 days (less 24 minutes) before that signal.
Sleep well, my dearest things!