-=> Quoting Ivy Iverson to Jack Sargeant <=-
 JS> Even if communication was established tomorrow via radio telescope,
 JS> our reply would take years to arrive on their home world. two-way
 JS> communications would be impossible. A chess game would take longer
 JS> to play than our solar system will last.
 
 II> True, if it were in another part of the galaxy, however if it were one
 II> of our close neighbors, like Alpha Proxima at 4+ light years, it would
 II> "only" take a little over 8 years to get an answer, (or the next move
 II> in the chess game).
. . .
 JS> Just a simple, "Hello, out there!" might take a thousand years to get
 JS> any kind of reply. ...And that is about all we dare to hope for.
 II> ...Or less than 5 years if it's one of our "neighbors."
   You're leaving out the time that it would take for our neighbours to 
realise
the signal is intelligent, work out that it's coded sound waves (or binary, 
r
whatever), reconstruct the language in which the message is written, and
translate it into their language.
   Add to that the time it would take them to comprehend chess, determine the
rules, and decide on a move.
   As if that wasn't long enough, they'd probably decide that communication
with aliens was a matter of planetary concern, and form a global Answer 
ummit
to come up with a reply acceptable to all the delegates.
   If that happened, a thousand years until we received the reply would be
about right. ;)
Paul
... You're so vain, you prob'ly think this tagline's about you.  
--- Blue Wave/Max v2.30 [NR]
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