A tale of two analogues: learning at a distance from the ancient Greeks and Maya and the problem of deciphering extraterrestrial radio transmissions

摘要

The transmission of ancient Greek learning and science to medieval western Europe via the translation of Greek and Arab texts is often cited as a terrestrial example of "learning at a distance" that could occur by means of the decipherment of radio message from advanced extraterrestrial civili- zations. However, the translation between such closely related languages as Greek, Latin and Arabic and the decipherment of radio message from an extraterrestrial civilization to the point where humans could understand them are only nominally analogous tasks.