THE NEW SCIENCE OF SPACE SPEECH By Vincent H. Gaddis How to talk to Martians, dolphins and creatures from the farthest stars--not tomorrow, but now! A giant ear to listen to the whispers from infinity is being built at Sugar Grove, W. Va. This 600-foot radio telescope, largest ever designed, will cost $100 million. When completed, its massive antenna, covering 6½ acres, will be trained on the mighty stellar mainland far beyond our solar system. Astronomers believe that it will pick up cosmic impulses originating in stars from 60 to 80 light-years distant--seven times farther than America’s largest existing radio telescope. Meanwhile, a scientist in the Virgin Islands talks to a frisky dolphin. And the aquatic mammal replies, imitating the man’s words with uncanny accuracy. And at centers of learning in the United States and abroad scholars patiently work over mathematical charts and word lists, seeking formulas that will solve the problem of space speech. These diverse activities are unified by a common purpose--to intercept and to interpret a possible message from outer space. This signal across the vast void of the spaceways from intelligent but alien beings will be, perhaps, the most momentous event in human history. It could come tomorrow, or it may not be received for a century or more. When it does come, man should be prepared to reply. This means we must devise some new method of communication that will transmit thoughts to non-human alien minds. In awarding a contract for a space speech project, Dr. Dale W. Jenkins, chief of the National Space Administration’s environment biology programs, stressed the great need for this knowledge. “We have not yet determined whether there are any communications directed at earth from outer space,” he said. “If we do make contact, we will have to work out systems of understanding.” This understanding is an all-important requisite as man reaches out toward the stars. Understanding, however, will also have to be applied by man to himself when he joins the community of civilizations beyond. Once interstellar intercourse is established, it will herald a new era in which man will have to recognize another species or form of life as intellectually his equal or more likely his superior. A recent psychological study of the possible effects of outer space contacts indicates that it will deflate human egoism with far-reaching consequences to his culture. * * * * * The problem of space speech is two-fold. First, there are the techniques to be used in actual physical contact with other world inhabitants; second, the far more complex problem of exchanging concepts through the medium of radio communication. Suppose you are a space explorer. You have landed on Mars or Venus and for the first time you are meeting intelligent creatures that are the products of a completely different line of evolution.