The Universal Language Theory

      

     It is said that 90% of our overall communications are non-verbal. This includes gestures, face expressions, chemical language, and other. Another thing I want to point out is that the universal language (and this is strictly related to the part of the Universe that we know stuff about) is not English, it's mathematics or physics if you like. 

      We ( people of the planet Earth) have always tried to communicate beyond our own little rock, therefore we have sent multiple messages out there, somewhere. About 30 years ago we sent "interstellar" probes to reach as far as possible the edges of our solar system. The Voyager missions carried out Golden Records containing visual and audio data, thought to be the most "universal" data possible (like sounds from earth, images from our planet,etc).

     In our modern times, the SETI institute (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) is the one that is currently searching through radio waves, and also transmitting, in search of somebody out there.

     The skeptics thought that not only this would be pointless because distances in space are too big for any signal to reach anything , in our own lifetime at least, but also if the alien races discovered were not so friendly, the message would be an invite for them to take over our planet. The comparison was made between a human and a cockroach, on the idea that a very intelligent race would simply not care of a more primitive life form, such as ourselves.

       Now considering that most of our world communication is non-verbal, why do people think that alien communication would be verbal, or visual for that matter. Couldn't it be chemical? By secreting different substances they would send different signals to their alien brothers/sisters. Or maybe through electromagnetic waves, as basic telepathy. 

      And suddenly another thought comes into mind: what if we send the wrong message? Supposing our radio signals reaches an alien civilization, and they are using some sort of communication that can be disrupted by our message, or even might get them killed. We could wipe out an entire world just by trying to say : "Hello".