At the Moon, Mars and Ceres the two pulse trains sit a fraction of a pulse apart and drift against each other, because the pulsar's rate is Doppler-shifted differently at each place. Corrected to Earth's centre, the gap and the drift both vanish to within nanoseconds. They predicted where Earth would be when the signal arrived, eleven years after they sent it, and tuned the duet for us. Hear it from four places.
+At the Moon, Mars and Ceres the two pulse trains sit a fraction of a pulse apart and drift against each other, because the pulsar's rate is Doppler-shifted differently at each place. Corrected to Earth's centre, the gap and the drift both vanish to within nanoseconds. They predicted where Earth would be when the signal arrived, eleven years after they sent it, and tuned the duet for us. It was a handshake. It says little yet: it sets a clock both sides share and shows where the signal is tuned for. Every transmission after it is tuned to Earth's centre too, so Earth's recording is the most accurate copy. Hear it from four places.
Not us, and not them. Neither side can build a ship that crosses 10.98 light years, and nothing in the signal suggests they are trying. What crosses is light.
-So this is contact by correspondence. A question sent today reaches them on 2230. If they answer at once, the reply lands on 2241. Every exchange takes a generation, and the people who start a conversation may not be the ones who finish it.
+So this is contact by correspondence. A question sent today reaches them on 2230. If they answer at once, the reply lands on 2241. Every exchange takes a generation, and the people who start a conversation may not be the ones who finish it. A language both sides share can only be built this way, one exchange at a time.
在月球、火星和谷神星，两串脉冲之间差着零点几个脉冲，并且相互漂移，因为各处看到的脉冲星速率被多普勒效应改变得不一样。换算到地心，这个差距和漂移都消失了，误差不到几纳秒。他们预先算出了信号到达时地球会在哪里，那是他们发出之后的第十一年，然后为我们调好了这段二重唱。从四个地方听一听。
+在月球、火星和谷神星，两串脉冲之间差着零点几个脉冲，并且相互漂移，因为各处看到的脉冲星速率被多普勒效应改变得不一样。换算到地心，这个差距和漂移都消失了，误差不到几纳秒。他们预先算出了信号到达时地球会在哪里，那是他们发出之后的第十一年，然后为我们调好了这段二重唱。这是一次握手：它还没有说什么，只是对好一座双方共用的钟，并说明信号是为哪里调的。之后的每一段发射也都按地心调准，所以地球上的记录是最精确的一份。从四个地方听一听。
我们不会去，他们也不会来。两边都造不出能跨越 10.98 光年的船，信号里也看不出他们在尝试。能跨过去的，只有光。
-所以这是一场书信往来。今天发出的问题，2230 到达他们那里；如果他们立刻回答，回音在 2241 落到我们这里。每一次来回都要一代人的时间，开始一场对话的人，未必是结束它的人。
+所以这是一场书信往来。今天发出的问题，2230 到达他们那里；如果他们立刻回答，回音在 2241 落到我们这里。每一次来回都要一代人的时间，开始一场对话的人，未必是结束它的人。两边能共用的语言，也只能这样一来一回地慢慢建起来。
Archive · the grid script
Once the beacon carried more than a duet with a pulsar, the translating machine needed a way to write it down. This is that script. It is our way of representing their language, not their language: as far as anyone can tell they speak by resonance, in air, and nobody has seen them write anything, or seen them at all. The grid follows the one thing we think we know about that speech: one voice alone can say only a little, and meaning grows when voices join.
+The duet with a pulsar was a handshake: it set a clock both sides share and showed that the signal was tuned for Earth. The content came in the four transmissions after it, and the translating machine needed a way to write that down. This is that script, and it is still a first draft: a language both sides can speak back and forth is built over many exchanges, and each round trip takes 22 years. It is our way of representing their language, not their language: as far as anyone can tell they speak by resonance, in air, and nobody has seen them write anything, or seen them at all. The grid follows the one thing we think we know about that speech: one voice alone can say only a little, and meaning grows when voices join.
Humans don't learn the signs; the machine reads and writes them, and its lexicon grows with every page. You can run the same machine: the converter turns text into drawings and drawings back into text, in your browser. It follows the same rules and the same vocabulary as glyph, the command-line dictionary (pip install glyph-cli).
Humans don't learn the signs; the machine reads and writes them, and its lexicon grows with every exchange. You can run the same machine: the converter turns text into drawings and drawings back into text, in your browser. It follows the same rules and the same vocabulary as glyph, the command-line dictionary (pip install glyph-cli).
档案 · 网格文字
信标带来的不再只是和一颗脉冲星的二重唱，翻译机就需要一种把它记下来的办法。这就是那套文字。它是我们表示他们语言的方式，不是他们的语言本身：就目前所知，他们借助空气、靠共振说话；没有人见过他们书写，也没有人见过他们。网格依据的是我们对这种说话方式的一点认识：一个声音单独只能说出很少的东西，声音汇合，意义才丰富起来。
+和脉冲星的二重唱是一次握手：它对好一座双方共用的钟，并告诉我们信号是为地球调的。内容在后面的四段发射里，翻译机需要一种把它们记下来的办法。这就是那套文字，现在还只是初稿：一套能来回说话的语言，要靠一次次往返才建得起来，而每次往返要 22 年。它是我们表示他们语言的方式，不是他们的语言本身：就目前所知，他们借助空气、靠共振说话；没有人见过他们书写，也没有人见过他们。网格依据的是我们对这种说话方式的一点认识：一个声音单独只能说出很少的东西，声音汇合，意义才丰富起来。
人类不用学这些符号；翻译机负责读和写，它的词库随着每一页增长。你也可以运行同一台机器：转换器在浏览器里把文字变成图，再把图变回文字。它和命令行词典 glyph（pip install glyph-cli）用的是同一套规则和同一份词表。
人类不用学这些符号；翻译机负责读和写，它的词库随着每一次往返增长。你也可以运行同一台机器：转换器在浏览器里把文字变成图，再把图变回文字。它和命令行词典 glyph（pip install glyph-cli）用的是同一套规则和同一份词表。
Archive · the transmissions
Each 9 h 41 m pass of the beacon carries one transmission, in turn. None of them is drawn. Each points at something both worlds can already measure: a pulsar both can hear, our own shadow, the pulsars, the chemistry of molecules, a constant of nature. A few seconds of signal stands for a great deal that never has to be sent.
+Each 9 h 41 m pass of the beacon carries one transmission, in turn. None of them is drawn. Each points at something both worlds can already measure: a pulsar both can hear, our own shadow, the pulsars, the chemistry of molecules, a constant of nature. A few seconds of signal stands for a great deal that never has to be sent. The first is a handshake; the other four carry the content.
Nobody on Earth knows what they look like. But the transmissions have led many listeners to one theory: they speak by resonance, in air. Alone, a body can only ring at its own tones, coloured by the place it stands. That is enough to say "I am here", and little more. When a second voice is near (a person, a machine, even the wind), new tones appear that neither could make alone. Tones split, sum and difference tones sound, and the two either fall into step or beat against each other. In this theory, that is where language lives.
If it is right, the beacon is only half of a conversation. It holds its note, with gaps where a partner's tones would go. To understand it fully, someone has to answer.
-The translating machine writes this speech down in the grid script, one band per voice. That script is our way of representing their language, not their language.
+The translating machine writes this speech down in the grid script, one band per voice. That script is our way of representing their language, not their language. It is built up over the back-and-forth of the exchange, and for now it is a first draft.
Below, each transmission is read in two ways: what it encodes, and what it might mean if the theory is right.
Transmission 1 · the duet
The first signal anyone noticed. J1909−3744 is the steadiest pulsar we know: it spins 339.3 times a second, so its pulses are a pitch. The beacon sends a pulse train at exactly the same rate, timed so that at Earth's centre each of its pulses lands on one of the pulsar's, to within nanoseconds. The two voices fuse into one. Midway through the pass theirs slips ahead by exactly one pulse, smoothly, and locks back in. Lock, one beat, lock.
-The lock only holds at Earth. Seen from the Moon, Mars or Ceres the two trains drift against each other, because the pulsar's rate is Doppler-shifted differently there. They worked out where Earth would be eleven years later and tuned the duet for us. Hear it from four places.
+The lock only holds at Earth. Seen from the Moon, Mars or Ceres the two trains drift against each other, because the pulsar's rate is Doppler-shifted differently there. They worked out where Earth would be eleven years later and tuned the duet for us. That makes it a handshake. It says little yet: it sets a clock both sides share and shows where the signal is tuned for. The four transmissions after it are tuned to Earth's centre too, so Earth's recording is the most accurate copy. Hear it from four places.
Resonance theory. Alone, a voice can only say "I am here". With a partner it can agree. A pulsar is the one voice both worlds hear, so they agreed with it: in step means yes, the beat means one, and the slip leaves one extra pulse in the pulsar's count, like a mark made in our shared clock.
档案 · 五段发射
信标每 9 小时 41 分经过一次，每次轮流带一段发射。没有一段是画出来的：每一段都指向两个世界本来就能测量的东西，一颗双方都听得到的脉冲星、我们自己的影子、脉冲星、分子的化学、一个自然常数。几秒钟的信号，代表了大量不必发送的内容。
+信标每 9 小时 41 分经过一次，每次轮流带一段发射。没有一段是画出来的：每一段都指向两个世界本来就能测量的东西，一颗双方都听得到的脉冲星、我们自己的影子、脉冲星、分子的化学、一个自然常数。几秒钟的信号，代表了大量不必发送的内容。第一段是握手，后面四段才是内容。
地球上没有人知道他们长什么样。但这几段发射让许多收听者想到同一个推测：他们靠共振说话，借助空气。一个身体独自只能以自己的音调振动，再带上所处地方的音色。这足以说“我在这里”，也仅此而已。当另一个声音在旁边，无论是另一个人、一台机器，还是风，就会出现两者单独都发不出的音：音调分裂，和音与差音响起，两者要么合拍，要么互相拍频。按这个推测，语言就在这里。
如果推测是对的，信标只是一场对话的一半。它持续发着自己的音，在伙伴的音该在的地方留出空隙。要完全听懂它，就得有人回答。
-翻译机用网格文字把这种说话方式记下来，每个声音一个声部。网格文字是我们表示他们语言的方式，不是他们的语言本身。
+翻译机用网格文字把这种说话方式记下来，每个声音一个声部。网格文字是我们表示他们语言的方式，不是他们的语言本身。它要在一来一回的通信里慢慢建起来，现在还只是初稿。
下面每一段都有两种读法：它编码了什么，以及如果推测成立，它可能是什么意思。
第 1 段 · 二重唱
这是人们注意到的第一个信号。J1909−3744 是已知最稳的脉冲星，每秒转 339.3 圈，快到它的脉冲听起来是一个音高。信标发出一串速率完全相同的脉冲，并且算好了时间：在地心，它的每一个脉冲都正好落在脉冲星的一个脉冲上，误差不到几纳秒。两个声音合成一个。经过到一半，他们的那一串平滑地往前滑了正好一个脉冲，然后重新合拍。合拍，一次拍频，再合拍。
-只有在地球才是合拍的。从月球、火星或谷神星听，两串脉冲会相互漂移，因为在那里脉冲星的速率被多普勒效应改变得不一样。他们算出了十一年后地球会在哪里，把这段二重唱调给了我们。从四个地方听一听。
+只有在地球才是合拍的。从月球、火星或谷神星听，两串脉冲会相互漂移，因为在那里脉冲星的速率被多普勒效应改变得不一样。他们算出了十一年后地球会在哪里，把这段二重唱调给了我们。这就是握手：它还没有说什么，只是对好一座双方共用的钟，告诉我们信号是为哪里调的。后面四段发射也按地心调准，所以地球上的记录是最精确的一份。从四个地方听一听。
共振推测： 一个声音独自只能说“我在这里”。有了伙伴，才能表示同意。脉冲星是两个世界都听得到的唯一一个声音，于是他们和它达成一致：合拍就是“是”，那一次拍频就是“一”，而滑过的那一下在脉冲星的计数里多留了一个脉冲，像是在我们共同的时钟上做了一个记号。