Constructing the matrix

Abstract

As part of our ‘toolkit’ for analysing an extraterrestrial signal, the facility for calculating structural affinity to known phenomena must be part of our core capabilities. Without such a resource, we risk compromising our potential for detection and decipherment or at least causing significant delay in the process.To create such a repository for assessing structural affinity, all known systems (language parameters) need to be structurally analysed to ‘place’ their ‘system’ within a relational communication matrix. This will need to include all known variants of language structure, whether ‘living’ (in current use) or ancient; this must also include endeavours to incorporate yet undeciphered scripts and non-human communication, to provide as complete a picture as possible. In creating such a relational matrix, post-detection decipherment will be assisted by a structural ‘map’ that will have the potential for ‘placing’ an alien communication with its nearest known ‘neighbour’, to assist subsequent categorisation of basic parameters as a precursor to decipherment.‘Universal’ attributes and behavioural characteristics of known communication structure will form a range of templates (Elliott, 2001 [1] and Elliott et al., 2002 [2]), to support and optimise our attempt at categorising and deciphering the content of an extraterrestrial signal. Detection of the hierarchical layers, which comprise intelligent, complex communication, will then form a matrix of calculations that will ultimately score affinity through a relational matrix of structural comparison. In this paper we develop the rationales and demonstrate functionality with initial test results.