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REPLY: By Terence Dickinson
The question raised by Steven Soter and Carl Sagan concerning the
pattern resemblance of the Hill map and the computer generated
projection of the Fish pattern stars is certainly a key question worthy
of discussion. Next month two authors will make specific comments on
this point.
Briefly, there is more to discounting the Fish interpretation than
pattern resemblance. We would have discounted the Fish interpretation
immediately on pattern resemblance alone. The fact that all the
connecting lines join stars in a logical distance progression, and that
all the stars are solar type stars, is significant. Ms. Fish tried to
fit hundreds of other viewpoints and this one was the only one that
even marginally fit and made sense in three dimensions and contained
solar type stars. in this context, you could not "have just as well
drawn the lines...to lead the other way".
Naturally there was a desire to find a resemblance between a group of
nearby stars and the Hill pattern! That's why Marjorie Fish built six
models of the solar neighborhood containing the relative positions of
up to 256 nearby stars. The fact that she came up with a pattern that
fits as well as it does is a tribute to her perseverance and the
accuracy of the models. Stars cannot be moved around "to optimize the
desired resemblance". Indeed Marjorie Fish first tried models using
nearby stars of other than strictly solar type as defined in the
article. She found no resemblances.
The three triangle dots selected from the background dots in the Hill
map were selected because Mrs. Hill said they were more prominent than
the other background stars. Such testimony was the basis of the
original map so we either accept Mrs. Hill's observations and attempt
to analyze them or reject the whole incident. We feel there is
sufficient evidence compelling us not to reject the whole incident at
this time.
We too are demanding rigorous standards of evidence to establish the
reality of extraterrestrial intelligence. If there is even the
slightest possibility that the Hills' encounter can provide information
about such life, we feel it is worth pursuing. The map is worthy of
examination by as many critical minds as possible.
Jerry
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