[sipior]

I think the only saving grace there is that the sentients sending such transmissions would presumably want to be understood, and would ensure a Rosetta Stone of sorts was packed along with the message; the common element of reference probably being the mechanism of the transmission medium itself. Contrast that with the Minoans here, who were just writing for other Minoans. But given how much culture and biology is inevitably encoded into even our human languages, one does sometimes wonder if we're even asking the right questions.

I hope I live long enough to see one of the various SETI initiatives pan out into such an amazing discovery. As a child, I thought it inevitable; pushing fifty, I'm rather less sanguine.