![]() The generativist approach, which holds that the structure of language is hardwired into the brain, suggests this wouldn’t be possible. Existing perspectives in the psychology of language give two very different answers. The more difficult question is whether we would ever be able to learn the internal structure of an alien language. Speeded up whale songs that are otherwise inaudible to humans, for instance, show that it is relatively easy to map “alien” stimuli into forms that humans can perceive. Nevertheless, the problem is largely a technical one. This is unlikely to be true of aliens, who will have evolved differently. Humans communicate in a 85-255Hz frequency range of sound and in the 430-770 THz frequency range of light. For this reason, it is plausible that any technologically versatile alien civilisation would have something like language.Ĭan we expect to learn such an alien language? The first hurdle would be its medium. It is by communicating our intentions that we are able to work together in surprisingly large groups. Matters are more complicated when it comes to language, which is the single most important factor in human cooperation. This is the rationale behind initiatives like The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI). If the laws of the universe are the same everywhere, then different descriptions of these laws should, in principle, be equivalent. The one thing we can be confident about exchanging with aliens is scientific information. But would we ever be able to understand each other? What would we do first? Surely communicating that we come in peace would be a priority. So let’s imagine that we suddenly stand face-to-face with members of an alien species. For them, the question is now whether we will encounter them in the near future or a very long time from now, rather than if at all. Many scientists believe that alien civilisations exist.
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