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By Root 1164 0

with our newly acquired information sorted into a computer memory, we would be able to see which sort of civilization lived where in the Galaxy. Imagine a huge galactic computer, a repository, more or less up-to-date, of information on the nature and activities of all the civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy, a great library of life in the Cosmos. Perhaps among the contents of the Encyclopaedia Galactica will be a set of summaries of such civilizations, the information enigmatic, tantalizing, evocative—even after we succeed in translating it.

Eventually, taking as much time as we wished, we would decide to reply. We would transmit some information about ourselves—just the basics at first—as the start of a long interstellar dialogue which we would begin but which, because of the vast distances of interstellar space and the finite velocity of light, would be continued by our remote descendants. And someday, on a planet of some far distant star, a being very different from any of us would request a printout from the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Galactica and acquire a little information about the newest society to join the community of galactic civilizations.

Civilization Type: 1.8 L.

Society Code: 2A11,

“We Who Survived”.

Star: F0, spectrum variable,

r=9.717 kpc, θ = 0°07’51″,

Φ = 210°20’37″.

Planet: sixth, a=2.4 × 1013 cm,

M = 7 × 1018 g, R=2.1 × 109cm,

p = 2.7 × 106s, P = 4.5 × 107s.

Extraplanetary colonies: none.

Planet age: 1.14 × 1017 s.

First locally initiated contact: 2.6040 × 108 s ago.

Receipt first galactic nested code: 2.6040 × 108 s ago.

Biology: C,N,0,H,S,Se,Cl,Br,

H2O, S8, polyaromatic sulfonyl

halides. Mobile

photochemosynthetic

autotrophs in weakly reducing

atmosphere.

Polytaxic, monochromatic.

m≈3 × 1012g, t≈5 × 1010 s.

No genetic prosthesis.

Genomes: ~6 × 107

(nonredundant

bits/genome: ~2 × 1012).

Technology: exponentiating,

approaching asymptotic limit.

Culture: global, nongregarious,

polyspecific (2 genera,

41 species); arithmetic

poetry.

Prepartum/postpartum:

0.52 [30],

Individual/communal:

0.73 [14],

Artistic/technological:

0.81 [18].

Probability of survival

(per 100 yr): 80%.

Civilization Type: 2.3 R.

Society Code: 1H1,

“We Who Became One”.

Interstellar civilization, no

planetary communities,

utilizes 1504 supergiants,

0, B, A stars and pulsars.

Civilization Age: 6.09 × 1015 s.

First locally initiated contact:

6.09 ×1015 s ago.

Receipt first galactic nested

code: 6.09 × 1015 s ago.

Source civilization, neutrino

channel.

Local Group polylogue.

Biology: C,H,O,Be,Fe,Ge,He.

4K metal-chelated organic

semiconductors, types

various.

Cryogenic superconducting

electrovores with neutron

crystal dense packing and

modular starminers; polytaxic.

m various, t≈5 × 1015 s.

Genomes: 6 × 1017

(nonredundant bits/mean

genome: ~3 × 1017).

Probability of survival

(per 106 yr):99%.

Hypothetical computer summaries of two advanced civilizations from the Encyclopaedia Galactica. By Jon Lomberg and the author.

Civilization Type: 1.0 J.

Society Code: 4G4, “Humanity”.

Star: G2, r=9.844 kpc, θ = 00°05’24″,θ = 206°28’49″.

Planet: third, a=1.5 × 1013 cm, M = 6 × 1027 g, = 6.4 × 108 cm, p = 8.6 × 104 s, P = 3.2 × 107 s.

Extraplanetary colonies: none.

Planet age: 1.45 × 1017 s.

First locally initiated contact: 1.21 × 109 s ago.

Receipt first galactic nested code: application pending.

Biology: C,N,O,S,H2O,PO4.

Deoxyribonucleic acid.

No genetic prosthesis.

Mobile heterotrophs, symbionts

with photosynthetic

autotrophs. Surface dwellers,

monospecific, polychromatic

O2 breathers. Fe-chelated

tetrapyroles in circulatory

fluid. Sexual mammals.

m≈7 × 104, t≈2 × 109s.

Genomes: 4 × 109.

Technology: exponentiating/

fossil fuels/nuclear weapons/

organized warfare/

environmental pollution.

Culture: ~200 nation states,

~6 global powers; cultural

and technological

homogeneity underway.

Prepartum/postpartum:

0.21 [18],

Individual/communal:

0.31 [17],

Artistic/technological:

0.14 [11].

Probability of survival

(per 100 yr): 40%.

Hypothetical