

Starivore Extraterrestrials – Interacting Binary Stars as Metabolic Systems [pdf] - andyjohnson0
http://student.vub.ac.be/~clvidal/writings/Vidal-Starivore-Binary.pdf

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thu
The domain `.ac.be` should be treated similarly to `.co.uk` by HN (ac means
academia). Here the domain that appears in parenthesis next to the link should
be `vub.ac.be`.

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dang
We've now fixed this. Sorry for the delay.

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zackmorris
The idea of analyzing existing recordings for information is compelling. I saw
a show about Zipf's law, I can't remember the name of it but the basic idea is
to plot data with the symbols on one axis and the frequency of each symbol on
the other. Highly structure data that conveys information tends to have a -1
slope on a logarithmic scale. More info:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipf's_law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipf's_law)

[http://www.peterrussell.com/Dolphin/DolphinLang.php](http://www.peterrussell.com/Dolphin/DolphinLang.php)

One of the problems with this approach is that data compression takes
advantage of these frequencies so that at maximum compression the slope tends
back towards 0 (perfect compression is almost indistinguishable from noise).

To me, this is the most likely reason why we haven't discovered
extraterrestrials. Without the decompression/de-encryption key, we have no way
of seeing the sea of data that's probably being transmitted all around us.
That and the fact that aliens have probably learned how to communicate with
neutrinos because they are able to build arrays of nano-detectors that can
sense the perturbations that are too faint for us to see. Also the beams are
probably directional, not broadcasted for all to see. So looking for direct
evidence of a civilization, something like a heat signature or particular
arrangement of matter, is probably going to be more fruitful than
eavesdropping on communications.

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anigbrowl
Some more stuff at his website, incluging the grand prize of 500 Euros (which
I hope someone will add to):
[https://highenergyastrobiology.wordpress.com/](https://highenergyastrobiology.wordpress.com/)

We're going to feel awfully stupid if this hypothesis turns out to be correct
and ETI was sitting out in plain view for decades.

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thret
Paramagnetic bonding sounds fascinating.

[http://phys.org/news/2012-07-chemists-molecular-bond-
white-d...](http://phys.org/news/2012-07-chemists-molecular-bond-white-
dwarf.html)

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dandelany
Interesting concept! But surely it should be "astrovore", no? :)

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shepardrtc
Or Stellarvore. Anything but Starivore. Yuck. I always want to say "Stare"
instead of "Star"

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slackson
I think it's just meant to be assonant with "carnivore".

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shepardrtc
That makes sense!

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PaulHoule
Radiation will eat you alive if you try that.

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andyjohnson0
Title of the paper is actually "Starivore Extraterrestrials? Interacting
Binary Stars as Macroscopic Metabolic Systems" but I had to truncate it due to
HN's 80 character title limit.

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edem
You can scale this to an even bigger level: when the Milky Way and the
Andromeda will collide they will in fact mate. (The __Milky__ Way being the
female counterpart in the intercourse)

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proveanegative
>when the Milky Way and the Andromeda will collide they will in fact mate

Only inasmuch as two groups of people walking past each other in a desert
counts as "mating". Galaxies are very sparse, so their collisions don't
actually involve much colliding but do a lot of passing by.

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edem
You have zero imagination.

