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*whistles the X-files theme while sticking a cancer stick in his mouth*
I tend to agree with this line of thinking. Just looking at how difficult it is/has been to figure out "dead" languages (or even for a westerner to fully learn Mandarin as an example) given that we basically have the same brain, with just about the same environments and are doing the mostly the same things. In short, if it is that difficult to figure "us" out from a language perspective, I can't imagine the task in trying to learn a truly alien language. I figure the only shot we have at such an endeavor is if the aliens are engineers and we start with the absolute basics of the simplest of math principles (counting) and base elements found in nature. With those as bases you can very slowly expand and sort of develop of "joint" language that would probably be painfully simplistic and take years to complete. That would at least allow for the passing of information, but casual conversation probably isn't going to happen.
Funny that the proponents are now working for a company that is rasing money.
I read an old book by a Harvard astronomer named Harlow Shapley. He was postulating about life on other planets. He said that while it is statistically, biochemically, and evolutionally probable that some forms of 'life' exist elsewhere in the universe, it has little chance of resembling anything on Earth. He said that as far as communicating with it goes, the odds are even lower that it has evolved the same audio visual systems we use. In his words, if you would like some practice in talking to alien life forms, you could go out in your garden and start up a conversation with the carrots. Genetically and practically they are closer forms of life to human than anything we might find 'out there'.
Sounds like we have some cool technology coming to a theater near you. I remember driving on the 395 to Mammoth Mountain and looking at the Southern Sierras. The other side of this place is Edwards and there were planes doing the most amazing things in the sky above those peaks. Hopefully, we can keep this stuff secret and not stolen.