The Rio scale was proposed in 2000 as a means of quantifying the significance of a SETI detection.[1][2] The scale was designed by Iván Almár and Jill Tarter to help tell policy-makers how likely, from 0 to 10, it is that an extraterrestrial radio signal has been produced by an intelligent civilization.[3]

The scale is inspired by the Torino scale, which is used to determine the impact risk associated with near-Earth objects. Just as the Torino scale takes into account how significant an object's impact on the planet would be, the Rio scale takes into account how much a public announcement of the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence would probably impact society.

The IAA SETI Permanent Study Group officially adopted the Rio scale as a way of bringing perspective to claims of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) detection, and as an acknowledgement that even false ETI detections may have disastrous consequences.[4][5]

The scale was modified in 2011 to include a consideration of whether contact was achieved through an interstellar message or a physical extraterrestrial artifact, including all indications of intelligent extraterrestrial life such as technosignatures.[6] A 2.0 version of the scale was proposed in 2018.[3][7][8]

Calculation[9]

In its 2.0 version, the Rio Scale, R, of a given event is calculated as the product of two terms.

The first term, Q, is the significance of the consequences of an event. It is determined considering three factors: the estimated distance to the source of the signal (a value between 0 and 4), the prospects for communicating with the source (a value between 0 and 4) and how likely is that the sender is aware of humanity (a value between -1 and 2). The value of each factor is determined by answering a question and Q is calculated by summing the three values.

The second term, δ, is the probability that the event actually occurred. Its value is determined by first calculating a term, J, based on three factors: the probability that the signal is real, the probability that it is not instrumental, and the probability that it is not natural or human-made. The values for these factors are determined by answering a questionnaire and J is calculated by summing them. δ is then calculated using the formula δ = 10(10-J)/2.

The final R value, going from 0 to 10, is the likelihood that the observed event was produced by an intelligent civilization.

Rating scale

Rio valueImportance
10Extraordinary
9Outstanding
8Far-reaching
7High
6Noteworthy
5Intermediate
4Moderate
3Minor
2Low
1Insignificant
0Nil

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Rio Scale" (PDF).
  2. ↑ Arbesman, Samuel. "Quantifying Alien Encounters: The Rio Scale". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  3. 1 2 Bartels,SPACE.com, Meghan. "To Fight Fake News, SETI Researchers Update Alien-Detection Scale". Scientific American. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  4. ↑ "How can you tell if that ET story is real? St Andrews scientists revise the Rio Scale for alien encounters".
  5. ↑ Hall, Shannon. "Strange signals from 234 stars could be ET - or human error". New Scientist. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  6. ↑ Mike Wall (2016-10-28). "Mysterious Star Pulses May Be Alien Signals, Study Claims". Space.com. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  7. ↑ Tudhope, Christine. "Scientists revise the Rio Scale for reported alien encounters". phys.org. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  8. ↑ Bartels, Meghan (31 July 2018). "SETI Researchers Want to End the Alien-Detection Hype". Space.com. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  9. ↑ Forgan, Duncan; Wright, Jason; Tarter, Jill; Korpela, Eric; Siemion, Andrew; Almár, Iván; Piotelat, Elisabeth (August 2019). "Rio 2.0: revising the Rio scale for SETI detections". International Journal of Astrobiology. 18 (4): 336–344. Bibcode:2019IJAsB..18..336F. doi:10.1017/S1473550418000162. hdl:10023/16927. ISSN 1473-5504.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.