Communication in Carl Sagan's Contact

Christian Weigert Communication Processes Mr. Dave Romanelli 1 May 1998 Communication in Carl Sagan's Contact "It is a commonplace of our culture" says Professor Mark Pollock, "that skill in communication is an invaluable asset" (Pollock 1). That may very well be, but what if the communication being attempted originates not from our friends, or a stranger on the street, or even our culture, but from an entirely different planet in another galaxy? Such a case is presented in the film "Contact," based on the novel of the same name by the late astronomer Carl Sagan. A message (or the Message, capitalized) is received from somewhere in the vicinity of Vega, a star in the constellation of Lyra, by scientists working at the Very Large Array of radio telescopes in New Mexico. The question is, what is contained in the Message? However, apart from the main Message, there are innumerable instances of communication in the film. This paper will attempt to identify the major instances of communication and explain which mode of communication each is. The film itself opens with a brief tour of the telecommunications age, when widespread communication first dawned on the world. I quote from Larry Klaes' online essay "Contact: More Than Just a Film": A "shell" of microwave noise surrounds our solar system roughly one century old, stemming from the earliest days since the invention of radio. Of course as Contact showed so masterfully, the transmissions become weaker and fainter as one heads into interstellar space, until they are lost as we move well beyond the radio noise sphere roughly 100 light years across. (Klaes: Section "The Opening Sequence") Of course, this is interpersonal communication on a mass level, and primarily through the medium of transmitted media; television, radio, digital TV, and wireless personal communications. Yet, on the cosmic scale, all this is but a drop in the ocean. The very next scene gives us an illustration of communication of a very fundamental level. We see a young girl, Eleanor Ann Arroway (Ellie), on a ham radio speaking to a man to turns out to be in Pensacola, Florida, 1116 miles from Ellie's location in De Pere, Wisconsin. While not out of the ordinary or exemplary in terms of complexity of the message, it does serve to illustrate the fascination Ellie has with communication and provides a nice parallel of messages Ellie receives later. As she explores radio astronomy, Ellie faces the task that puzzled Saussure, that of separating thought from sound. In her SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) work, she must search for patterns in the seemingly random static of galactic radio noise. However, just because a sound is regular doesn't mean there is intelligence behind it. Pulsars give off pulses of radio waves at regular intervals, but they are caused by "a rapidly rotating neutron star, the remnant of a star more massive than Sol that went supernova" (Klaes: Section "Pulsar J1741+2748"). So Ellie starts searching for more chaotic patterns in among the chaotic cosmos by looking for paradigms in various sorts of white noise, the sounds of washing machines, television static, and the like. Eventually, when Ellie, now an adult, picks up the Message at the Very Large Array, we get a glimpse of the Shannon and Weaver model of communication. She sets about trying to determine the sender, the content of the message, the character of the signal being sent, the exact location of the channel, who the intended receiver is, and the nature of the noise in the signal. Ultimately, by triangulation, or some similarly scientific, technical means, she determines that the signal is emanating from Vega at 4.4623 gigahertz (4.4623 being the atomic weight of Hydrogen multiplied by Pi) and being directed at Earth. As for the nature of the Message, that takes some more work. Now Ellie is faced with treating the signal as either pure code, requiring a decryption expert, or trying to infer its meaning from its contextual clues. The solution, as it turns out, is to do both. Ellie first treats the message as a code, while looking for a primer, a key to decryption. Examination of the harmonics of the frequency, at 8.9247 gigahertz, reveals a signal not unlike a TV signal. The signal is made up of two interlaced frames; the first seems to be just noise, but the second reveals a sinister image. Adolf Hitler. Der Fuehrer welcoming the world to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The explanation is that this is the first television signal of any strength that escaped the Earth's atmosphere and made it into space. Ironic that our first communication to the rest of the world was the first communication sent back to us by extra-terrestrial intelligence. As it turns out, however, those interlaced frames of static aren't merely static after all. They're pages upon pages of code, in an alien pictogram language. After a consultation with the mysterious billionaire S. R. Hadden, she learns the location of the primer. It seems that on the perimeter of each page of text, there is a figure. Oddly, cryptologists could only get three of these figures to align, leaving no possible permutations (out of all possible combinations of 63,000 pages of text) that allowed all four registration marks to align. No permutations, that is, in two dimensions. Hadden urges Ellie to think "like a Vegan" and imagine efficiency functioning on "multiple levels and in multiple dimensions" ("Contact" script, Internet source). It seems that the pages fit together in three dimensions, forming a figure not unlike three faces of a cube locked together. Thus, there is no fourth section of the registration marks. And upon the combination of two three-dimensional pages, a piece of the primer swims into view. Set up as a general scientific vocabulary, it gives the researchers the symbols for true and false. Their use of mathematics as a universal language echoes John Locke's belief in the imperfection of words. As David Drumlin, head of the National Science Foundation, explains, "[t]his was the key, to put it simply, that allowed us to decipher their language for physics, geometry, chemistry" ("Contact" script, Internet source). A further suggestion of Locke's theory on the imperfection of words can be found in the contents of the Message, once deciphered. The Message consists of 63,000 pages of engineering schematics, blueprints. And yet, Richard Rankin, head of the Christian Right (an organization similar to Christian Coalition) says "[t]he content of that message is morally ambiguous at best...we know nothing of these creatures' values. The fact of the matter is we don't even know whether they believe in God" ("Contact" script, Internet source). The supreme irony in this lies in the fact that the language which Rankin speaks in, religion, and the language of the message, science, are initially portrayed in this film as being rather mutually exclusive. To Rankin's statement, Ellie replies, "it's just that the message was written in the language of science. Now, if it had been religious in nature, it should have taken on the form of burning bush, or a big booming voice from the sky" ("Contact" script, Internet source). Tying in with Ellie's reply is the terministic screen that she views the world through. Ellie seems to think that science and God, or at least science and faith, are mutually exclusive. If not a full-fledged atheist, Ellie is certainly an agnostic. This screen, her driving need for empirical data, also ties in with Burke's notion that reality is based on the small sphere of our personal experiences and the records of others' experiences. This is evidenced in an interview that Ellie takes part in. Ellie is asked by a reporter to respond to a statement: REPORTER: There is every indication that this is simply beyond our capabilities. That this endeavor will fail, and that the machine's occupant will pay for that failure with their life. How do you respond to something like that? ELLIE: Well, this message is from a civilization that may be anywhere from hundreds to millions and millions of years ahead of us. I have to believe that an intelligence that advanced knows what they're doing. All it requires on our part is... REPORTER : Faith? ELLIE: I was going to say a sense of adventure. ("Contact" script, Internet source) Ellie, it seems, can only have faith is something if it has been scientifically or mathematically proven, in a lab or on paper. Since the existence of God has never been definitively proven, Ellie will not invest faith in Him. This does not preclude morality, however. When asked by the International Machine Consortium Selection Board if she considered herself to be a spiritual person, she replied that she considered herself to be moral person, but "[a]s a scientist I rely on empirical evidence, and in this matter, I don't believe that there is data either way." ("Contact" script, Internet source). Ellie isn't the only character in the film with terministic screens, however. Other notable screen sufferers are; Michael Kitz, the National Security Advisor, David Drumlin, the President's Science Advisor, and Palmer Joss, the President's advisor in all things spiritual. Kitz, it seems, is overwhelmed by his innate skepticism and paranoia about the meaning of the Message. To quote again from Klaes, Kitz at first seems to be a man just doing his job as the National Secu rity Advisor. It is only natural and right for him to question the intentions of the Message and the Machine. Having that Hitler broadcast among the first identifiable items did not exactly ease anyone's mind about the aliens' motives. But as events press on, we discover that Kitz intends on becoming a United States Congressman (despite his public denials), possibly as a step towards obtaining the Presidency. Publicly tearing apart Ellie and her story certainly got Kitz the recognition and power base he apparently craved all along. (Klaes: Section "David Drumlin and Michael Kitz) Drumlin is obsessed with turning every matter into an opportunity for personal gain. Again, from Klaes: Drumlin may be head of the National Science Foundation, but he does not hesitate to remove Ellie and her SETI research when he feels it is wasting time and resources for more potentially profitable science. But when Ellie does get a message from the stars, Drumlin wastes little time in using his NSF position to take the limelight from Ellie. (Klaes: Section "David Drumlin and Michael Kitz) Drumlin is the ultimate political player, telling everyone exactly what they want to hear, whether he believes it or not. Joss views everything through the screen of religion, but not as narrow-mindedly as Richard Rankin. He seems to gaze at matters of faith as a wide-eyed child, staring at something that is fascinating, tantalizing, but just barely beyond his comprehension. Klaes admits that he was surprised at how Palmer did not seem to grasp why Ellie would be risking her life to make direct contact with the ETI. Surely a truly devoted man of religion would give his life for God if the need arose. Perhaps because the ETI [Extra-Terrestrial Intelligences] were "secular" to him, he could not see anyone giving up everything for something that was not beyond physical reality. (Klaes: Section "Palmer Joss") Another communications theory that comes into play in the film is Protagoras' theory of rhetoric. If we examine the characters, it becomes clear that not many of them are truly rhetorical thinkers. Very few actually attempt to examine the opposing viewpoint in order to resolve a dispute, and worse, the speakers and their audiences aren't even on the same intellectual level. The nature of the Message, when originally received, came in the form of pulses of prime numbers, that is, numbers divisible only by one and the number itself. Thus, the Very Large Array picked up one pulse initially, followed by 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and so on. However, when discussing the discovery with a few authorities, Michael Kitz and a New Mexico senator, Ellie runs into a snag with their understanding of the Message: KITZ: Explain this to me. If the source of the signal is so sophisticated, why the remedial math? SENATOR: Exactly, why don't they just speak English? ELLIE: Well, maybe because 70% of the planet speaks other languages. Mathematics is the only truly universal language, Senator. It's no coincidence that they're using primes. KITZ: I don't get it. ("Contact" script, Internet source) Klaes also makes an impassioned statement against the less educated having the greater say in his essay, from which I again quote: [T]here is the scene of th e visiting Senator asking why the aliens didn't just speak English and making a blank stare when Ellie told him thatprime numbers were an easy way to let the radio astronomers know that the signal was not a natural one. In the space of one minute, this scene deftly exposes two flaws among the less educated masses. The first is the view of most United States citizens that English either is or should be the first language of every culture (shall I presume that the Romans felt this way about Latin with the world of their era?). The second are the lacking levels of scientific knowledge with many politicians... I will spare my readers from going into a diatribe on the frustrations and outright dangers of having politicians and others with more clout than education deciding the fates of SETI and space development...[t]hese people are literally deciding the future of humanity. Thus their actions should not be taken lightly, especially in a democracy where everyone has a voice and a vote. (Klaes: Section "The Prime Numbers") This is a very disturbing problem. Those who have education have no power, and those who have power have no education. The dangers inherent in this state of affairs are terrifying, and should be obvious to everyone. The need to have the audience and the speakers on the same level is overwhelming. However, it is not just the audience that needs to have the same level of understanding as the speakers, but the speakers need to have the same level of understanding as the audiences they address. The public is not as stupid as some speakers would like them to be. Ultimately, Ellie is chosen as the passenger of the Machine, and is whisked through wormholes or "Einstein-Rosen bridges" to the Center of the Universe. While there, several events unfold that eventually bring about yet another example of Locke's theory on the imperfection of language. I quote from the script: She [Ellie] lets go of the compass in her hand. She notices that it's floating in zero G, and unbuckles herself from the chair and begins floating. The chair shakes itself loose, and then all is silent until she emerges from the wormhole and the chair is pulled up to the top of the IPV. All is dark. Ellie turns on a flashlight. ELLIE: [for the benefit of her recording unit] Some celestial event. No - No words. No words to describe it. They should've sent a poet. So beautiful, So beautiful... I had no idea. ("Contact" script, Internet source) The notion that words, or perhaps just the vocabulary Ellie has at her disposal, are insufficient to describe the sights she is witnessing adds credence to Locke's theory that words represent ideas, not things. Words are there to express the intangible, those things which we cannot pick up with our hands and show to others. Wood's theories of communication also receive some play in the film. Wood's definition of self is "an individual's ongoing interpretation and organization of experiences used to direct personal thought and action" (Pollock 121). It is obvious that Ellie's experiences in the film bring about a tremendous change in her concept of self. While it is not known for certain whether she now is able to invest faith in an unknown, it certainly seems likely that she would be capable of it after going through the Machine: ELLIE: Is it possible that it didn't happen, yes. As a scientist I must concede that, I must volunteer that. KITZ: Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You admit that you have absolutely no physical evidence to back up your story? ELLIE: Yes. KITZ: You admit that you very well may have hallucinated this whole thing. ELLIE: Yes. KITZ: You admit that if you were in our position, you will respond with exactly the same degree of incredulity and skepticism? ELLIE: Yes. KITZ: Then why don't you simply withdraw your testimony and concede that this journey to the center of the galaxy, in fact, never took place?! ELLIE: Because I can't. I had an experience I ca n't prove, I can't even explain it, but everything that I know as a human being,everything that I am tells me that it was real. I was part of something wonderful, something that changed me forever; a vision of the Universe that tells us undeniable how tiny, and insignificant, and how rare and precious we all are. A vision that tells us we belong to something that is greater than ourselves. That we are not, that none of us are alone. I wish I could share that. I wish that everyone, if even for one moment, could feel that awe, and humility, and the hope, but... that continues to be my wish. ("Contact" script, Internet source) Ultimately, Ellie does become aware of the possibility of a union of both science and faith. This union seems to parallel the example that Sperber and Wilson advocate, the code vs inferential model. While both seem to be unrelated in the larger scheme of things, the fact is they depend on each other to accomplish the communication. The key in analyzing the communication in "Contact," and indeed, in analyzing any communication is to not overlook the basic elements presented; the Shannon and Weaver model, the theories of John Locke and Protagoras, and even the seemingly circuitous logic of Saussure. All elements of the communication are vital to understanding and interpreting the message sent. Even the method of delivery the message employs can sway the audience. Before the Message was even deciphered, the public reacted to the source and nature of the signal. Before it was even known what the blueprints were construction plans for, people were debating whether to construct it at all, fearing it to be a weapon or a "Doomsday machine". It is only by fully decoding the messages we receive, and then analyzing them can we truly make wise decisions and carry out the proper actions. After all, once we know all the various ways we can react to a received message, the sky's the limit.

Works Cited

 Contact the Movie. 17 October 1997. Online. Internet. 26 April 1998. Available  http://hourglass.ml.org:8080/contact/contact.htm

Klaes, Larry. Contact: More Than Just a Film. 29 December 1997. Online. Internet. 26 April 1998.  
     Available  http://hourglass.ml.org:8080/contact/review.htm

Pollock, Mark A. Communication Processes in a Mass Mediated Age. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. Dubuque, Iowa.  1998